I just learned that humans don’t have receptors to sense wetness. What is it that we feel when water touches our skin then?

Question

From my understanding, we’re able to feel the temperature, texture and pressure of water. And if we’re able to feel all that, what more else is there? What defines wetness and what should it feel like?

In: 1135

Answer 1

>From my understanding, we’re able to feel the temperature, texture and pressure of water. And if we’re able to feel all that, what more else is there?

That’s it. You’ve got it. But those aren’t “wetness” — it’s temperature, texture, and pressure. We don’t have nerves that directly respond to moisture; we infer wetness from the others.

The key paragraph from [a 2014 study](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141001133416.htm) appears to be the following:

>”Based on a concept of perceptual learning and Bayesian perceptual inference, we developed the first neurophysiological model of **cutaneous wetness sensitivity centered on the multisensory integration of cold-sensitive and mechanosensitive skin afferents**,” the research team wrote. “Our results provide evidence for the existence of a specific information processing model that underpins the neural representation of a typical wet stimulus.” [Emphasis mine.]

What the emphasized section says is precisely what you said: we arrive at an understanding that something is “wet” based on temperature, texture, and pressure.