ABSTRACT
Touch is the first of the senses to develop: the tickle reflex is evident in the foetus at eight weeks. Touch is also, probably, the most common and the most important non-verbal communication channel in our culture. Loving and hating, greetings and farewells, birthdays and funerals, healing rituals, helping behaviours, sporting activities and interactive relations of all sorts involve types of touching. Touch is not only utilitarian (cleaning and changing the baby, etc.), but also, and especially, emotional, sometimes in the same activities. Hugging and snuggling, pinching and punching, shaking hands or holding hands, linking arms, patting heads, slapping faces, tickling tummies, taking pulses, stroking and striking, kissing foreheads, or cheeks, or lips, or anywhere…They all involve touching and skin contacts, and convey without words a wide variety of emotions, meanings and relationships.
