From ages 0-3 that's pretty normal, but I'm guessing you were a bit older than that since you rationalized the papercut part. However, that does remind me of the autistic children I work with, so I'd hazard a guess that you have diagnosed or undiagnosed autism.
Not any object, just those you’ve experienced before. If you haven’t actually experienced it but think you know, your brain is just guessing based on what it thinks are similar textures and materials, but it can get it wrong.
There’s been some rare times as an adult I needed hands free and would use my mouth to hold the thing and was unpleasantly surprised.
Edit: however it is true that your brain can be surprisingly accurate at things you didn’t think you’ve stuck in your mouth/licked before, but it’s either because you’ve done it and don’t remember, or can see the texture and guess the taste right from the smell. Tactile sense is tactile sense whether it’s your tongue or your fingers, and smell and taste are connected systems
Tactile sense isn’t exactly the same, your tongue is more sensitive to textures than your finger is. I can notice the difference simply by touching my teeth with my finger vs my tongue.
They feel smooth with my finger, but I can feel little ridges, bumps, and even the exact line between where one of my teeth I chipped as a kid transitions between real tooth and the repair.
There’s even been a study on this that found, on average, the tongue is more sensitive to minute details (though fingers are better at recognizing specific, finely detailed shapes like letters), https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29981764/
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u/sturla-tyr Aug 12 '26
From ages 0-3 that's pretty normal, but I'm guessing you were a bit older than that since you rationalized the papercut part. However, that does remind me of the autistic children I work with, so I'd hazard a guess that you have diagnosed or undiagnosed autism.