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Related Concept Videos

Somatosensation01:33

Somatosensation

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The somatosensory system relays sensory information from the skin, mucous membranes, limbs, and joints. Somatosensation is more familiarly known as the sense of touch. A typical somatosensory pathway includes three types of long neurons: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary neurons have cell bodies located near the spinal cord in groups of neurons called dorsal root ganglia. The sensory neurons of ganglia innervate designated areas of skin called dermatomes.
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Design Example: Resistive Touchscreen01:14

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A device engineer plays a crucial role in designing user interfaces for mobile devices. One such interface is the resistive touchscreen, which fundamentally consists of two metallic layers: a flexible upper layer and a rigid lower layer, separated by a narrow gap. The high resistance between these two layers is a key characteristic of this design.
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Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex01:23

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The somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobes is crucial for interpreting sensory data such as touch, temperature, and proprioception. The somatosensory cortex, situated in the parietal lobes, plays a vital role in interpreting sensory information like touch, temperature, and proprioception—awareness of body position. This specialized brain region features an organized structure wherein neurons at the top primarily process sensations originating from the lower body. In contrast, those at...
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Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex01:14

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The cerebral cortex, the brain's outermost layer, is pivotal in processing complex cognitive tasks, emotions, and various sensory inputs and executing voluntary motor activities. This intricate structure is divided into three primary functional areas: the motor areas, sensory areas, and association areas.
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Design Example01:23

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The innovation of touch-tone telephony revolutionized the telecommunications industry by replacing the traditional rotary dial with a dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signaling system. This system uses a matrix-style keypad with buttons arranged in four rows and three columns, creating 12 distinct signals each assigned to a pair of frequencies. Each button press results in a simultaneous generation of two sinusoidal tones – one from a low-frequency group (697 to 941 Hz) and one from a...
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Tactile and Chemical Senses01:27

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Tactile senses encompass touch, temperature, and pain, each mediated by specific receptors. Touch receptors detect mechanical energy or pressure against the skin. Sensory fibers from these receptors enter the spinal cord and relay information to the brain stem. Here, most fibers cross over to the opposite side of the brain. The touch information then moves to the thalamus, which projects a map of the body's surface onto the somatosensory areas of the parietal lobes in the cerebral cortex.
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Tactile Semiautomatic Passive-Finger Angle Stimulator TSPAS
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Use-dependent cortical processing from fingertips in touchscreen phone users.

Anne-Dominique Gindrat1, Magali Chytiris2, Myriam Balerna2

  • 1Domain of Physiology, Fribourg Cognition Center, Department of Medicine, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 5, Fribourg 1700, Switzerland.

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|December 28, 2014
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Touchscreen phone use reshapes brain

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Science
  • Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

  • Cortical activity adapts to skilled hand use, enhancing sensory representation.
  • Previous studies show plasticity in string players and monkeys, but touchscreen effects are unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Investigate how touchscreen phone use alters fingertip sensory processing in the brain.
  • Determine if repetitive touchscreen interactions induce cortical plasticity.

Main Methods:

  • Used electroencephalography (EEG) to measure cortical potentials.
  • Compared touchscreen users and non-users responding to tactile stimuli on fingertips.
  • Quantified phone usage intensity using battery logs.

Main Results:

  • Touchscreen users showed enhanced cortical potentials across three fingertips compared to non-users.
  • Thumb and index fingertip potentials correlated with usage intensity.
  • Thumb sensitivity fluctuated daily with phone use intensity.

Conclusions:

  • Repetitive touchscreen use modifies hand sensory processing and cortical representation.
  • The brain's sensory processing is continuously shaped by digital technology use.