A new study suggests that using a smartphone — touching the fingertips against the smooth surface of a screen — can make the brain more sensitive to the thumb, index and middle finger tips being touched.
From the Washington Post comes news of a simple study that demonstrated an increase in cortical stimulation as a result of using thumbs and fingers on smartphone touch screens. I look forward to similar research examining how giving massage alters the activity and size of the somatosensory brain devoted to processing tactile information.
Two takeaways for massage practitioners: The more massage you do the more “consciousness” you create in your hands and fingers and, if you don’t use it, you lose it.
Here is the citation link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.11.026
