Articles tagged with Tactile Perception
A new study reveals that sensitive skin surfaces are overrepresented in the brain due to stronger connections between sensory neurons and brain stem neurons. This mechanism may explain why certain body parts, like hands and lips, are more sensitive than others.
Scientists from UNIGE and UNIFR discovered that the brain misperceives tactile vibrations when their amplitude varies, creating an illusion. Humans are more sensitive to lower frequencies (around 250 Hz) but struggle to differentiate between higher and lower frequencies when amplitudes are not matched.
A new study published in Current Biology reveals that visually impaired babies primarily use touch to respond to stimuli, while sighted babies rely more on auditory cues. The research suggests that both senses will be crucial in designing tools to aid their development.
Researchers found that children tend to have similar levels of sulfur volatiles in their saliva as their parents, suggesting shared oral microbiomes. Children who produce high amounts of sulfur volatiles dislike raw Brassica vegetables the most.
Scientists have designed a 4D-printed soft robot with unique properties, enabling it to roll uphill, navigate uneven terrain, and carry heavy loads. The robot's ability to adapt to its environment was a surprise discovery for the researchers, who hope to unlock new applications in confined spaces.
Researchers have identified several small molecules responsible for coffee's mouthfeel, including melanoidin compounds and caffeoylquinic acid. These compounds can be used to tune processing and roasting conditions for specialty coffees.
Northwestern University engineers created the first full 3D simulation of a rat's complete whisker system, providing rare insight into how rats actively sense their natural environments. The model incorporates 60 individual whiskers and simulates rats in various environments, revealing unique patterns of data.
Researchers from Florida Atlantic University developed a new technology that enables prosthetic hands to distinguish between complex, multi-textured surfaces using liquid metal sensors and machine learning algorithms. This innovation could improve control of prosthetic hands and provide haptic feedback for amputees.
Researchers at Tel Aviv University have developed a groundbreaking technology that restores tactile sensation via an electric current transmitted from a healthy nerve. The sensor, implanted on a damaged nerve, recreates the feeling of touch without requiring an external power source.
A recent study found that patients with unilateral nerve injuries often experience sensory abnormalities on the opposite side of their body, regardless of whether they have pain or not. This phenomenon, known as contralateral sensory abnormalities, suggests a common underlying mechanism for both painful and painless neuropathies.
A wearable accelerometer and vibrator 'thimble' device has been developed to help reduce falls amongst seniors by enhancing their sense of balance. The device, similar to a thimble worn on the fingertips, delivers vibrotactile nudges to reduce postural sway in individuals with impaired balance.
A brain-computer interface that mimics tactile sensation has significantly improved robotic arm control for a person with tetraplegia, performing tasks comparable to able-bodied humans. The new system, which reads and writes neural activity, reduces trial times by half compared to previous versions.
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh developed a brain-computer interface that uses brain stimulation to evoke tactile sensations, improving control of a robotic arm. The study found that supplementing vision with artificial tactile perception cut the time spent grasping and transferring objects in half.
A Korean research team developed a technology generating various vibrations using LED light signals, allowing for localized and varied tactile sensations. The technology, developed by ETRI, is expected to be applied to industries such as automobiles and electronics, offering improved feedback and durability.
Researchers at Northwestern University developed a mechanical simulation of the whisker inside the follicle, discovering that bending creates an 'S'-shaped bend within the follicle. This deformation triggers sensor cells, sending touch signals to the brain, and can predict how whiskers activate different sensory cells.
A new mechanical model simulates how whiskers bend within follicles in response to external forces, shedding light on the process of sensing touch signals. The model suggests an 'S' shaped deformation and predicts how whiskers interact with mechanoreceptors, influencing tactile sensitivity.
Sensory neurons in fingers can detect touch on a single fingerprint ridge scale. This sensitivity explains the human hand's refined sense of touch.
Researchers find that individuals without a sense of touch can use visual cues to navigate and orient themselves, while those who lose the sense as adults may develop compensatory skills using conscious thought. The study suggests that the brain can adapt to sensory information loss and find alternative ways to process visual data.
A study involving two participants with sensory impairments reveals that physical embodiment can occur without the sense of touch. Kim and Ian, who cannot feel touch, use visual information to develop a sense of their bodies. Their unconscious body representations differ from those of control subjects.
Researchers at SISSA have discovered a new theory for how we perceive the passage of time in relation to sensory stimuli. The study proposes that the experience of elapsed time is generated when the neuronal representation of a stimulus is collected and summed by an accumulator, explaining why we feel longer vibrations as stronger ones.
Researchers found that the USH2A protein, produced by the Meissner corpuscle, is essential for maintaining normal touch perception. The protein helps transmit touch vibrations from the outside of the fingertip to the nerve ending inside the corpuscle.
Researchers at Purdue University have developed a technology that enables digital communication through direct touch, allowing for secure payments and information transfer without biometric authentication. This innovation uses an "Electro-Quasistatic range" to confine signals within the body, preventing hacking and interception.
Human fingerprints have a self-regulating moisture mechanism that helps avoid dropping objects, enabling the development of better prosthetic limbs and virtual reality environments. By regulating skin moisture, fingerprints maximize friction on various surfaces, giving primates an evolutionary advantage in dry and wet conditions.
Scientists at POSTECH have created a multimodal ion-electronic skin that can measure both temperature and mechanical stimulation simultaneously. This breakthrough could lead to the development of wearable temperature sensors and artificial skin for humanlike robots, potentially restoring the sense of touch in patients with tactile sens...
Researchers at Cornell University have created a stretchable 'skin' sensor that detects deformations and allows soft robotic systems to feel pressure, bending, and strain. This technology has the potential to revolutionize physical therapy and sports medicine by enabling machines to measure force interactions.
Engineers at the University of New South Wales have developed a robotic gripper that behaves like an elephant's trunk to grasp, pick up, and release objects without breaking them. The versatile technology can be applied in various industries, including agriculture, food, and scientific exploration.
Researchers discovered that goby fins possess fingertip-like touch sensitivity, allowing fish to detect surface details. The study reveals that the fish's fins are capable of encoding texture patterns, mirroring human primate finger pads.
Researchers have discovered how octopuses can taste objects by touch using their suckers, which include discrete populations of sensory cells. The study found that distinct chemotactile receptors form ion channel complexes that detect specific signals and send them to the nervous system.
Researchers at Scripps Research have identified the PIEZO2 protein as a crucial part of how our body detects bladder fullness. The discovery sheds light on the mechanism underlying normal bladder function and may lead to new treatments for bladder control and urination issues, particularly among the elderly.
Scientists at the University of Birmingham have discovered a universal scaling law for touch sensitivity using seismic waves. The law enables better understanding of touch experiences across species, predicting similar sensations despite differences in force and receptor depth.
Researchers at UNSW Sydney developed a new haptic device that recreates the sense of touch, enabling users to feel virtual or remote objects in a more realistic way. The device overcomes existing issues with haptic technology by introducing a novel method to recreate an effective haptic sensation via soft, miniature artificial muscles.
A recent study published in JNeurosci found that stroking skin triggers an anti-itch neural pathway in the spinal cord, reducing itchiness. The researchers discovered that sensory neurons under the skin activate anti-itch interneurons, leading to reduced neural activity and relief from itching.
Researchers at Max Planck Institute successfully precisely influenced a single area of the brain by inhibiting its rhythm, decreasing functional connectivity and information exchange with other networks. This precise control enables potential therapeutic applications for diseases caused by disturbed brain functions.
The NUS team created a sensory integrated artificial brain system that mimics biological neural networks, combining artificial skin and vision sensors to enable accurate conclusions about objects in real-time. The system achieved over 92% accuracy in classifying Braille letters and outperformed traditional systems in grasping tasks.
A team of scientists at New York University has found that tiny eye movements can be used as an index of humans' ability to anticipate relevant information in the environment. The study reveals a connection between eye movements and the sense of touch, with micro-saccades hindering tactile discrimination and suppressing them enhancing it.
The study found that routine affection is essential for women's relationship satisfaction, while higher levels of routine affection correlate with men's relationship satisfaction. Non-sexual physical affection has a significant association with solid marriages.
A team of researchers has restored sensation to a paralyzed man's hand using a brain-computer interface (BCI) system, enabling him to detect objects by touch and experience enhanced control. The BCI system enhances neural signals that are too small for conscious perception, resulting in greatly improved motor function.
Researchers at UC Santa Barbara find the skin's elasticity helps process tactile information, enabling efficient data compression. This discovery may lead to new prosthetic limb designs and improved tactile sensing for robots.
A study by York University researchers found that the brain's representation of the back and palm of the hand are different. The perceived width of the back of the hand changes depending on its orientation, but the palm's size is accurately judged.
A new regenerative peripheral nerve interface (RPNI) technology has been developed to improve the control and precision of prosthetic hands for upper limb amputees. The RPNIs allowed participants to perform complex finger and thumb movements with high accuracy and worked for up to 300 days without requiring recalibration.
Researchers at Columbia Engineering have introduced a new robotic finger with a highly precise sense of touch over complex, multicurved surfaces. The finger uses overlapping light signals to detect contact and can localize touch with very high precision, making it suitable for dexterous hands.
Researchers developed a highly sensitive sensor, the ultrathin crack-based strain sensor (UCSS), which can detect small movements. The UCSS is inspired by a spider's slit organ and has remarkable sensitivity to movement, allowing it to monitor tiny pulse movements and detect subtle changes in temperature.
A recent study reveals that migraine patients exhibit altered tactile sensation, particularly a decreased perception of pleasure in gentle touch. The research suggests that this disturbance may be related to the same neurophysiological processes underlying allodynia, a common symptom of migraine.
High self-control individuals experience food as tastier and more satisfying when touching food directly with their hands, eating more of it. Direct touch triggers an enhanced sensory response, influencing how people evaluate food. This effect persists even when self-control is primed or manipulated.
A team of researchers has developed a method to forecast proper feedback in human-to-machine applications, enhancing the Tactile Internet experience. The proposed module uses an artificial neural network to predict the material touched, achieving a prediction accuracy of 97% with four materials.
Scientists from Duke University and HSE University developed a neurointerface that allows monkeys to control a cursor with their brains, enabling future development of upper-limb neuroprostheses. The breakthrough provides tactile feedback, increasing movement precision and natural control.
Researchers at the University of Waterloo have developed a battery-free device called Tip-Tap that allows users to navigate computers using only their fingertips. The device uses radio frequency identification tags and can be integrated into gloves or attached directly to the skin as a temporary tattoo.
Researchers identified key brain areas linked to limited sense of touch, including somatosensory cortex and prefrontal cortex. The study supports findings from previous research on body awareness and discovers new brain regions associated with touch perception.
Northwestern University researchers create a thin, wireless system that adds a sense of touch to virtual reality experiences, enabling new applications in social interactions, prosthetics, telemedicine, and entertainment. The device transmits touch patterns through miniature vibrating actuators embedded into a soft, flexible material.
The University of Bristol's Mantis robotic arm provides light, affordable, and simple solution for everyday users, enabling them to build and use robots without expensive kit or skills. The system simulates the sense of touch, providing haptic force feedback, and can be built and used by anyone from a secondary school student.
Artificial skin creates first ticklish devices by mimicking human skin's sensing resolution and detecting gestures like tickling, caressing and twisting. The Skin-On interface enables devices to 'feel' user interactions, conveying expressive messages through touch gestures.
A UK-based web survey found that balance and temperature were also highly valued by the general public. The study aimed to determine the relative importance of different senses in everyday life.
A neuroprosthesis mimics sensory feedback by stimulating nerves in the remaining limb, improving mobility, agility, and preventing falls. The device enabled patients to perform complex tasks with greater ease and a reduced mental burden.
Scientists create a soft, flexible artificial skin made of silicone and electrodes that can replicate the human sense of touch. The skin provides real-time pressure and vibration feedback to enhance rehabilitation and virtual reality applications.
A team of engineers and psychologists at UC San Diego discovered clever tricks to design materials that replicate different levels of perceived softness. The findings provide fundamental insights into designing tactile materials and haptic interfaces that can recreate realistic touch sensations.
A recent study published in PLOS Biology explores how texture affects the way we perceive speed when touching objects. The researchers found that finer textures produce more vibrations in the skin, leading to a greater perceived speed. This is because specific nerve fibers in the skin are highly sensitive to these vibrations.
Traumatized individuals exhibit altered brain activity in response to touch stimuli, leading to a greater social distance towards strangers. The study suggests potential therapeutic avenues for retraining stimulus processing.
Researchers found a universal frequency decoding system that overrules tactile sensory channels when perceiving vibrotactile stimuli. This discovery suggests that different skin regions with varying receptors can cause the same brain sensations, revolutionizing our understanding of touch perception.
The Asynchronous Coded Electronic Skin (ACES) system can detect touches 1,000 times faster than the human sensory nervous system. It achieves ultra-high responsiveness and robustness to damage, making it suitable for robots and prosthetic devices.
A study by Bielefeld University and New York University reveals that healthy adults systematically misattribute touch on the hands to the feet and vice versa. The researchers found that three characteristics of touch - limb identity, side of body, and canonical anatomical position - contribute to phantom sensations.