General

Women have better sense of touch

Smaller fingers are key: study

According to a study out of McMaster University, women have a more sensitive sense of touch than men thanks to their smaller fingers. Smaller digits have greater sweat pore density, researchers found, which means that fingertip touch receptors, which cluster around sweat pore bases, are more tightly packed. This could make women better at embroidery or surgery, they concluded in the Journal of Neuroscience. In the study, researchers pressed pogressively narrower parallel grooves against the stationary fingertips of 100 volunteers. Those with smaller fingers, typically women, could discern higher grooves. The index finger is more sensitive than the little finger, but this might be because sensitivity improves with continued use. Researchers will next study whether children have better hand sensitivity than adults.

BBC News

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