Definition

Noun: 1. The sense of touch; the ability to perceive physical contact, pressure, temperature, or pain through the skin. This refers to the biological faculty itself. 2. A specific instance of perception through touch; the feeling or sensation resulting from physical contact. This refers to the conscious experience or quality of a particular touch.

Usage Examples

• As the sense of touch (Faculty):
  • The experiment studied how tactual sensation declines with age.
  • Blind people often rely heavily on their tactual sensation to navigate the world.
• As a specific feeling (Sensation):
  • The tactual sensation of the rough bark was unpleasant.
  • He described the tactual sensation as a light, tickling pressure.

Advanced Usage

• In psychology and neuroscience: The term is used in scientific contexts to discuss the neurophysiological mechanisms of the somatosensory system.
  • The paper analyzes the neural pathways responsible for tactual sensation.
• In product design and user experience (UX): Used to describe the intentional feel or haptic feedback of an object.
  • Designers considered the tactual sensation of the new controller's buttons to be crucial for gameplay.

Variants and Related Words

• Tactile (adjective): Pertaining to or experienced through the sense of touch.
  • Tactile feedback; a tactile surface.
• Haptic (adjective): Relating to the sense of touch, especially relating to technology that creates touch sensations.
  • Haptic technology; a haptic interface.
• Somatosensation (noun): A broader, more technical term encompassing all bodily sensations, including touch, temperature, pain, and proprioception (body position).

Synonyms

• Sense of touch
• Touch perception
• Cutaneous sensation (more technical, specifically relating to the skin)
• Feeling (in the context of physical perception, e.g., "a feeling of warmth")

Related Phrases

• Tactual exploration: The active use of touch to investigate an object or environment.
  • The child's tactual exploration of the toy helped her understand its shape.
• Tactual acuity: The sharpness or sensitivity of the sense of touch.
  • Fingertips have a high degree of tactual acuity.

Noun

1. the faculty of perceiving (via the skin) pressure or heat or pain
2. the sensation produced by pressure receptors in the skin
   • she likes the touch of silk on her skin
   • the surface had a greasy feeling