I don't think it's silly, but I do think that it will be extremely difficult to test. People that have damaged nerve endings of the fingers probably are not good grippers, even if their fingers are wet. The control and the feedback is simply not there.
People that have damaged nerve endings of the fingers probably are not good grippers, even if their fingers are wet
I guess you actually meant "even if their fingers aren't wet"?
But why do you think it would be extremely difficult to test this hypothesis? All that would be needed is to get a large enough group of people and test their gripping ability on the same surface when their fingers are wet and when they aren't.
Well not exactly. I'd imagine that the wet surface will always have lower gripping ability. You want to know if the wrinkled fingers have better grip on a wet surface than unwrinkled fingers. You could wet the fingers and immediately test the grip (before wrinkles form), and then soak them in water until they wrinkle and do it again.
I think this hypotheses is a little silly though.