does a bigger person have more brain devoted to touch than a small person, or is the skin less sensitive in ‘nerves-per-inch’?

Question

does a bigger person have more brain devoted to touch than a small person, or is the skin less sensitive in ‘nerves-per-inch’?

In: 156

Answer 1

One square inch of a bigger person’s skin has the same number of nerve endings as one square inch of a smaller person’s skin. We’re all equally sensitive (roughly), some of us just have larger hitboxes 🙂

While the amount of brain devoted to touch is somewhat proportional to the surface area of our skin, it’s important to remember that we have far more nerve endings per square inch in our fingers, toes, and faces (50-300) than in our torsos, arms, and legs (2-20). Our brains are very, very similar.