Ingvars Birznieks

This study investigates how viscoelastic properties of human skin influence tactile neuron signaling during object manipulation, finding that neurons encode both current and past loading information.

The paper shows that natural finger movement kinematics enhance friction perception at initial contact with smooth surfaces, as demonstrated by improved performance in identifying slippery surfaces.

This study compares how human and monkey tactile afferents encode tangential torques during fingerpad manipulation, finding human SA-I afferents less sensitive than monkey counterparts but potentially compensated by SA-II afferents.

The paper shows that burst gap coding, previously observed in mechanical stimulation, also applies to electrical nerve stimulation, influencing tactile frequency perception through temporal spike patterns.

The paper shows that spiking patterns, not receptor type, determine vibrotactile frequency perception, suggesting a universal frequency decoding system.