| Central neural mechanisms contributing to the perception of tactile roughness. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 12356453 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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This paper summarizes recent work showing that tactile roughness appreciation increases in a nearly linear fashion as tactile element spacing or spatial period (SP, distance centre-to-centre between raised dots in these experiments) is increased from 1.5 to 8.5 mm. Although a previous study had reported a U-shaped psychophysical function peaking at a nominal SP of 3.2 mm, differences in the surfaces (including changing SP in only one dimension as compared with two and higher dot heights that minimized contact with the smooth floor) likely contributed to the difference in the results. Roughness estimates were also unaffected by a 2-fold change in scanning speed (50 vs. 95 mm/s). Parallel recordings from neurones in primary somatosensory cortex (SI) during a texture discrimination task indicate that the discharge frequency of many SI cells shows a monotonic relation with SP (up to 5 mm tested). For some cells, the texture signals were ambiguous because discharge frequency co-varied with both texture and the scanning speed, as has also been reported for the peripheral mechanoreceptors that are activated by textured surfaces. Yet other SI cells showed a speed-invariant response to surface texture, consistent with perceptual constancy for roughness over a range of scanning speeds. We suggest that such a discharge pattern could be based on a simple intensive, or mean rate, code: an invariant central representation of surface texture could be obtained by subtracting a speed-varying signal from the ambiguous signals that co-vary with roughness and speed. |
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Authors:
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C Elaine Chapman; François Tremblay; Wan Jiang; Loïc Belingard; El-Mehdi Meftah |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Review |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Behavioural brain research Volume: 135 ISSN: 0166-4328 ISO Abbreviation: Behav. Brain Res. Publication Date: 2002 Sep |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2002-10-01 Completed Date: 2002-11-25 Revised Date: 2006-11-15 |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 8004872 Medline TA: Behav Brain Res Country: Netherlands |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 225-33 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
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Centre de recherche en sciences neurologiques, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada. chapmanc@readap.umontreal.ca |
Export Citation:
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| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Animals Central Nervous System / physiology* Haplorhini Neural Pathways / physiology Surface Properties Touch / physiology* |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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