Testing your sensitivity to touch

1. Testing your sensitivity to touch Is your skin equally sensitive all over your body? Try this experiment to find out more about how well your skin perceives touch. Materials: Ruler that measures in millimeters 12 toothpicks 3 index cards tape Partner Blindfold Paper pen

2. Two point discrimination Tester – You need to make one! • Get 12 toothpicks, some tape and three index cards • Tape toothpicks in pairs to index cards so that the points stick out. • You must make six different testers with distances between the tips of the toothpicks of 60mm, 30mm, 15mm, 7.5mm, 3.75mm and 0mm. (The 0 mm tester can have just one toothpick). • The lengths of the pointy parts should be the same for the pairs.

3. What you will do: • Test your partner using two-point discrimination testers: • The experimenter will lightly touch the two points of the tester to the subject's skin. The points must land at the same time. • The subject will report (without looking) if there were two points or one. • Start with the largest distance first (60mm) and work down until the subject can no longer feel two points. • Occasionally, touch with a single point so the subject doesn't try to fool the test.

4. What you will do: Test the following areas on the body: • Forehead • Cheek • upper lip • back of hand • palm of hand • thumb • shoulder • upper calf Each time your subject can feel TWO points, make a check in the chart. Stop as soon as the subject reports one point instead of two and go to the next body part. Repeat with second person!

5. Each time your subject can feel TWO points, make a check in the chart. Stop as soon as the subject reports one point instead of two and go to thenext body part.