Being brushed is not only soothing but delicious; and vice versa – 09/04/2023 – Suzana Herculano-Houzel

“Do you mind brushing me up?” my new boyfriend asked me. “Your hair?” –he has long, beautiful gray hair, so my question seemed a bit obvious. No: he was talking about his own skin, the way we brush dogs. And he put a big soft-bristled brush in my hand.

I found it curious, but the Neuroscientist on duty is always within reach, and my brain immediately started turning the subject over in my head. Let’s see.

Dogs, cats and monkeys love to be groomed and groomed by someone they trust. Just the other day I had the honor of attending a lecture by a neuroscientist, Katalin Gothard, from the University of Arizona, on her discovery that the amygdala of the monkey brain – that part of the brain that is reputed to be responsible for the sensation of fear when what it actually does is trigger all sorts of emotions in the body – not only is it sensitive to touch, it responds radically differently if it’s the “trusted hairstylist” who touches their skin.

In fact, you don’t even need to comb it. Such is the power of the company over the sensations of the body that it is enough for the trusted hairdresser to be in the room for the amygdala of the monkeys to respond differently.

The Neuroscientist on duty also recalled, right there, brush in hand, that the types of receptors and nerves about to be activated would be completely different from those that accuse something that just touches the skin, in a small spot, and then goes away – like a mosquito, a bump or an object caught by the fingers. Strolling across the skin, the brush would recruit C-tactile fibers that only respond to touching a large area of ​​skin with a certain amount of pressure and slow movement. In other words: fibers that detect not touch, but affection.

Such C-tactile fibers were a mystery for a long time, until enough neuroscientists paid attention to a part of the cerebral cortex called the insula (a veritable island of cortex sunk beneath the surface, hence the name) for the tide. turn around and discover that these C-tactile fibers are not “tactile” at all, but what I call “mother indicators”.

Well, that’s the first thing they do in our lives: they acknowledge the mother’s presence. From then on, their activation indicates the presence of someone worthy of our trust, whose proximity we not only allow but desire.

Being brushed, as dogs and monkeys teach those who pay attention, is not only soothing but delicious (or perhaps delicious because it calms), and it signals complete confidence in both the groomer and the groomed. No wonder the result is the formation of loving bonds, even between different species.

He thought it was weird and that being brushed was a perversion that past girlfriends found bizarre. But his girlfriend is now the Neuroscientist on duty.

No, my love, you’re just autistic like me, our skin is abnormally sensitive, so you’ve discovered for yourself what other animals already know, but most humans don’t: that being brushed is delicious.

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