TY - JOUR
T1 - Segregation of tactile input features in neurons of the cuneate nucleus.
AU - Jörntell, Henrik
AU - Bengtsson, Fredrik
AU - Geborek, Pontus
AU - Spanne, Anton
AU - Terekhov, Alexander V
AU - Hayward, Vincent
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Our tactile perception of external objects depends on skin-object interactions. The mechanics of contact dictates the existence of fundamental spatiotemporal input features-contact initiation and cessation, slip, and rolling contact-that originate from the fact that solid objects do not interpenetrate. However, it is unknown whether these features are represented within the brain. We used a novel haptic interface to deliver such inputs to the glabrous skin of finger/digit pads and recorded from neurons of the cuneate nucleus (the brain's first level of tactile processing) in the cat. Surprisingly, despite having similar receptive fields and response properties, each cuneate neuron responded to a unique combination of these inputs. Hence, distinct haptic input features are encoded already at subcortical processing stages. This organization maps skin-object interactions into rich representations provided to higher cortical levels and may call for a re-evaluation of our current understanding of the brain's somatosensory systems.
AB - Our tactile perception of external objects depends on skin-object interactions. The mechanics of contact dictates the existence of fundamental spatiotemporal input features-contact initiation and cessation, slip, and rolling contact-that originate from the fact that solid objects do not interpenetrate. However, it is unknown whether these features are represented within the brain. We used a novel haptic interface to deliver such inputs to the glabrous skin of finger/digit pads and recorded from neurons of the cuneate nucleus (the brain's first level of tactile processing) in the cat. Surprisingly, despite having similar receptive fields and response properties, each cuneate neuron responded to a unique combination of these inputs. Hence, distinct haptic input features are encoded already at subcortical processing stages. This organization maps skin-object interactions into rich representations provided to higher cortical levels and may call for a re-evaluation of our current understanding of the brain's somatosensory systems.
U2 - 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.07.038
DO - 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.07.038
M3 - Article
SN - 0896-6273
VL - 83
SP - 1444
EP - 1452
JO - Neuron
JF - Neuron
IS - 6
ER -