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'Where' and 'what' in the whisker sensorimotor system
Mathew E Diamond1, Moritz von Heimendahl, Per Magne Knutsen
1Cognitive Neuroscience Sector, International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), 34014 Trieste, Italy. diamond@sissa.it
Nature Reviews. Neuroscience
|July 22, 2008
Summary
Rats use their whiskers to build a sense of
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Sensory Systems
- Somatosensation
Background:
- Primate visual systems differentiate 'what' and 'where' pathways.
- Nocturnal animals, like rats, rely on tactile information via whiskers for spatial and object recognition.
- Understanding whisker-mediated touch is crucial for comprehending sensory processing in non-primate mammals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore how the brain constructs environmental representations using whisker-based tactile sensing.
- To investigate the neural mechanisms underlying tactile perception of object properties.
- To identify knowledge gaps in understanding the meaning-based representation of sensory stimuli.
Main Methods:
- Review of recent evidence on whisker-mediated tactile perception.
- Analysis of neural pathways involved in processing tactile information.
- Comparison of sensory processing strategies between primates and nocturnal rodents.
Main Results:
- The brain constructs spatial and object representations through whisker palpation.
- Significant progress has been made in understanding the representation of physical tactile properties (texture, shape, position).
- Limited understanding exists regarding how the brain represents the meaning of tactile stimuli.
Conclusions:
- Whisker-mediated touch is a primary mechanism for environmental exploration in rats.
- Further research is needed to understand the neural representation of the meaning of tactile stimuli.
- Future studies should focus on the transformation between different sensory representations.
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The receptor level:
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