Editing Stimulus modality (section)

===Description===
The sense of touch, or tactile perception, is what allows organisms to feel the world around them.  The environment acts as an external stimulus, and tactile perception is the act of passively exploring the world to simply sense it.  To make sense of the stimuli, an organism will undergo active exploration, or [[haptic perception]], by moving their hands or other areas with environment-skin contact.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Reuter E. |author2=Voelcker-Rehage C. |author3=Vieluf S. |author4=Godde B. | year = 2012 | title = Touch perception throughout working life: Effects of age and expertise | journal = Experimental Brain Research | volume = 216 | issue = 2| pages = 287–297 | doi = 10.1007/s00221-011-2931-5 |pmid=22080104 |s2cid=16712201 }}</ref>  This will give a sense of what is being perceived, and give information about size, shape, weight, temperature, and material.  Tactile stimulation can be direct in the form of bodily contact, or indirect through the use of a tool or probe.  Direct and indirect send different types messages to the brain, but both provide information regarding roughness, hardness, stickiness, and warmth.  The use of a probe elicits a response based on the vibrations in the instrument rather than direct environmental information.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Yoshioka T. |author2=Bensmaïa S. |author3=Craig J. |author4=Hsiao S. | year = 2007 | title = Texture perception through direct and indirect touch: An analysis of perceptual space for tactile textures in two modes of exploration | journal = Somatosensory & Motor Research | volume = 24 | issue = 1–2| pages = 53–70 | doi = 10.1080/08990220701318163 |pmid=17558923 |pmc=2635116 }}</ref>  Tactual perception gives information regarding [[cutaneous]] stimuli (pressure, vibration, and temperature), [[kinaesthetic]] stimuli (limb movement), and [[proprioception|proprioceptive]] stimuli (position of the body).<ref>{{cite journal | author = Bergmann Tiest W | year = 2010 | title = Tactual perception of material properties | journal = Vision Research | volume = 50 | issue = 24| pages = 2775–2782 | doi = 10.1016/j.visres.2010.10.005 | pmid = 20937297 | doi-access = free }}</ref>   There are varying degrees of tactual sensitivity and thresholds, both between individuals and between different time periods in an individual's life.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Angier R | year = 1912 | title = Tactual and kinæsthetic space | url = https://zenodo.org/record/1429145| journal = Psychological Bulletin | volume = 9 | issue = 7| pages = 255–257 | doi = 10.1037/h0073444 }}</ref>  It has been observed that individuals have differing levels of tactile sensitivity between each hand.  This may be due to callouses forming on the skin of the most used hand, creating a buffer between the stimulus and the receptor.  Alternately, the difference in sensitivity may be due to a difference in the cerebral functions or ability of the [[left hemisphere|left]] and [[right hemisphere]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Weinstein S. |author2=Sersen E. | year = 1961 | title = Tactual sensitivity as a function of handedness and laterality | journal = Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology | volume = 54 | issue = 6| pages = 665–669 | doi = 10.1037/h0044145 |pmid=14005772 }}</ref>  Tests have also shown that deaf children have a greater degree of tactile sensitivity than that of children with normal hearing ability, and that girls generally have a greater degree of sensitivity than that of boys.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Chakravarty A | year = 1968 | title = Influence of tactual sensitivity on tactual localization, particularly of deaf children | journal = Journal of General Psychology | volume = 78 | issue = 2| pages = 219–221 | doi = 10.1080/00221309.1968.9710435 | pmid = 5656904 }}</ref>

Tactile information is often used as additional stimuli to resolve a sensory ambiguity.  For example, a surface can be seen as rough, but this inference can only be proven through touching the material.  When sensory information from each modality involved corresponds, the ambiguity is resolved.<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Lovelace |first1=Christopher Terry |title=Feature binding across sense modalities: Visual and tactual interactions |date=October 2000 |id={{ProQuest|619577012}} }}</ref>