There are also sensory nerve axons, he said, called “C-tactile fibers” or “caress sensors,” that are actually designed to carry information about interpersonal touch. There is such a thing as “optimal” speed for a caress: too slow and it might feel like a bug crawling along the skin; too fast and it doesn’t carry the appropriate amorousness. “We now know,” Linden said, “that if you stick an electrode in the arm and record electrical activity from one of those C-tactile nerve cells going from the skin to the brain, the highest firing rates happen at precisely the touch velocity that ‘feels’
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