Tactiteit

Tactiteit, also rendered as tactility in English, denotes the tactile sensibility or the quality of being perceived by touch. In Dutch and in broader discourse on sensation, tactiteit refers to the experiential aspect of touch—the way textures, temperatures, pressures, and vibrations are felt through the skin and related sensory channels.

Physiologically, tactiteit arises from tactile receptors in the skin (such as Merkel disks, Meissner corpuscles, Pacinian corpuscles, and Ruffini endings) that encode pressure, roughness, vibration, and skin stretch. These signals travel via peripheral nerves to the somatosensory cortex, supporting texture discrimination, two-point discrimination, and exploratory touch. Tactiteit depends on surface properties (roughness, stiffness, thermal conductivity) and dynamic contact (applied force and movement).

In design and technology, tactiteit informs haptic feedback and tactile design. Surfaces and materials are selected for their tactile quality to convey texture, quality, or safety. Applications include consumer electronics, textiles, prosthetics, and assistive devices where tactile cues aid interaction, perception, or accessibility. The term is used in research on perception, ergonomics, and aesthetics to describe how touch contributes to object familiarity and material judgment.

Note: tactiteit should not be confused with tacticity in polymer science, which refers to the stereochemical arrangement of side groups along a polymer chain, a distinct concept.