Tactile and Sensory Interactions

An intact oculomotor neural circuit in congenital blindness

The paper shows that congenitally blind individuals maintain connectivity between visual and sensorimotor cortices, with eye movements driving visual cortex activity and sensorimotor activity, despite lacking visual experience and oculomotor control.

Multi-finger Receptive Field Properties in Primary Somatosensory Cortex: A Revised Account of the Spatio-Temporal Integration Functions of Area 3b

This study challenges the view of area 3b as a single-digit tactile relay by showing most neurons integrate multi-digit inputs and show temporal and spatial integration properties.

A horizon for haptic perception

The paper determines the sensory horizon for human haptic perception, finding it extends to six meters using a rod, demonstrating the brain's adaptability in sensorimotor representations.

Spatiotemporal dynamics of sensory neuron and Merkel-cell remodeling are decoupled during epidermal homeostasis

The paper uses in vivo imaging to show that somatosensory axons and Merkel cells undergo dynamic remodeling during epidermal homeostasis, with axons showing plasticity even when Merkel cells are stable.

The Limits of Touch: Spatial acuity for frequency-resolved air-borne ultrasound vibrotactile stimuli

This study challenges the textbook view that high-frequency vibrotactile stimuli have poor spatial resolution by showing they can produce good spatial acuity.

Hand and face somatotopy shown using MRI-safe vibrotactile stimulation with a novel Soft Pneumatic Actuator (SPA)-Skin interface

This study uses a novel MRI-safe vibrotactile stimulation device to map somatotopy in the human primary somatosensory cortex for hand and face regions.

A context-dependent switch from sensing to feeling in the primate amygdala

The paper shows that primate amygdala neurons shift from responding to tactile stimuli to reflecting social context during grooming, with baseline firing rate changes indicating affective processing.

Reorganization of thalamocortical connections in congenitally blind humans

This study shows structural changes in thalamocortical connections in congenitally blind individuals, revealing a remapping of visual and temporal cortex connections.

The geometry of cortical representations of touch in rodents

The paper examines the geometric structure of neural representations in the somatosensory cortex of mice during touch tasks, revealing non-linear integration of sensory inputs and disentangled variables in orthogonal subspaces.

On the intrinsic curvature of animal whiskers

This paper compares methods to quantify intrinsic curvature in whiskers across ten species, finding the fractional exponent model most effective for distinguishing species.

Reassessing face topography in primary somatosensory cortex and remapping following hand loss

This study investigates facial somatotopy in S1 and remapping after hand loss, finding an upright facial organization and restricted remapping in congenital one-handers.

Population coding strategies in human tactile afferents

This study investigates population coding strategies in human tactile afferents, finding that optimal density and composition depend on tactile features, and temporal information is more critical than spatial information.

Tactile perception of auditory roughness

This study compares auditory and tactile perception of roughness using similar stimuli and finds similar sensory processing characteristics in both modalities.

The encoding of touch by somatotopically aligned dorsal column subdivisions

This study shows that LTMR and PSDC subdivisions of the dorsal column encode different tactile features and converge differently in the DCN.

Supramodal Shape Representation in the Human Brain

The paper investigates shape representation in the human brain by comparing early blind and sighted participants, finding that the inferolateral occipitotemporal cortex (ILOTC) encodes shape information independently of visual experience.

Neural signatures of reading-related orthographic processing in braille

The paper identifies neural signatures of orthographic processing in braille reading by comparing real and pseudowords using fMRI, showing distinct roles for posterior parietal cortices and somatosensory cortex.

Biomechanics of Finger Pad Response under Torsion

This study investigates how finger pad skin deforms under torsional forces during partial slippage, revealing how normal force and angular velocity affect strain and slip patterns.

Mechanoreceptor signal convergence and transformation in the dorsal horn flexibly shape a diversity of outputs to the brain

This study shows that spinal cord dorsal horn neurons integrate inputs from multiple mechanoreceptor subtypes, leading to diverse mechanical response profiles and influencing tactile representations in the brain.

Precise and stable edge orientation signaling by human first-order tactile neurons

This paper shows human first-order tactile neurons signal edge orientation differences and maintain this signaling across various scanning speeds through sequential spike train structures.

Identifying brain areas for tactile perception through natural finger touch with MR-compatible tactile stimulus delivery system

This study develops a MR-compatible tactile stimulus delivery system to investigate brain areas involved in tactile perception during natural finger touch.

A detailed behavioral, videographic, and neural dataset on object recognition in mice

The paper presents a dataset of mouse whisker behavior and neural activity during object recognition tasks, providing tools for studying tactile object identification and neural responses.

Active tactile discrimination is coupled with and modulated by the cardiac cycle

The paper shows that active tactile discrimination is modulated by the cardiac cycle, with touches initiated during diastole lasting longer due to higher perceptual sensitivity.

Prior information improves tactile representation in primary somatosensory cortex

The paper shows that prior information enhances tactile detection and modulates somatosensory cortex activity before tactile stimulation.

Reducing Merkel cell activity in the whisker follicle disrupts cortical encoding of whisker movement amplitude and velocity

This study shows that reducing Merkel cell activity in whisker follicles disrupts cortical encoding of whisker movement amplitude and velocity by affecting response magnitude and spiking timing, but not response latency.

Brain-wide connectivity map of mouse thermosensory cortices

The paper maps brain-wide connectivity of mouse thermosensory cortices, showing parallel input pathways and overlapping output regions for S1 and pIC.

Tactile localization of the breast, areola, and nipple

This study investigates tactile localization on the breast, areola, and nipple, finding lower precision compared to the hand and back, and highlighting distinct tactile properties of the nipple.

Fast event-related mapping of population fingertip tuning properties in human sensorimotor cortex at 7T

This paper compares fast and slow event-related fMRI designs for mapping fingertip tactile tuning in human sensorimotor cortex, finding the fast design more reliable and revealing two somatotopic representations.

Neural dynamics of illusory tactile pulling sensations

This study investigates the neural dynamics of illusory tactile pulling sensations using EEG and asymmetric vibration, finding that parietal lobe activity and P200 modulations are associated with these sensations.

Texture coding in higher order somatosensory cortices of primates

The paper investigates texture coding in higher order somatosensory cortices of macaques, finding that S2/PV neurons represent texture more sparsely and encode task-related information rather than the stimulus itself.

In the back of your mind: Cortical mapping of paraspinal afferent inputs

The paper maps cortical representations of paraspinal afferents using fMRI and vibrotactile stimulation, finding topographic differences between high- and low-frequency stimulation and upper/lower back regions.