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Related Concept Videos

Tactile and Chemical Senses01:27

Tactile and Chemical Senses

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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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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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Sensory Perception: Organization of the Somatosensory System01:11

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The somatosensory system is the central and peripheral nervous system component that senses and processes touch, pressure, pain, temperature, and body position or proprioception. The process of sensation takes place at three levels:
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Perception01:28

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Perception is a fundamental psychological process that enables individuals to organize, interpret, and consciously experience sensory information. This process is crucial for understanding and interacting with the world around us. It includes both bottom-up and top-down processing, each playing a distinct role in how we perceive our environment.
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Naturalistic Observations02:30

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If you want to understand how behavior occurs, one of the best ways to gain information is to simply observe the behavior in its natural context. However, people might change their behavior in unexpected ways if they know they are being observed. How do researchers obtain accurate information when people tend to hide their natural behavior? As an example, imagine that your professor asks everyone in your class to raise their hand if they always wash their hands after using the restroom. Chances...
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Introduction to Special Senses01:26

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Sensory receptors play an integral part in comprehending our external and internal environments. They receive diverse stimuli, converting them into the nervous system's electrochemical signals. This conversion occurs as the stimulus alters the sensory neuron's cell membrane potential, instigating the generation of an action potential. This action potential is subsequently transmitted to the central nervous system (CNS), which integrates with other sensory data or higher cognitive...
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Related Experiment Video

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Corticospinal Excitability Modulation During Action Observation
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Corticospinal Excitability Modulation During Action Observation

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Tactile perception during action observation.

Roberta Vastano1, Alberto Inuggi2, Claudia D Vargas3

  • 1Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, via Morego 30, 16163, Genoa, Italy. roberta.vastano@iit.it.

Experimental Brain Research
|May 11, 2016
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Observing actions reduces tactile sensitivity, similar to performing actions. This tactile gating effect occurs during the reaching phase, not grasping, suggesting shared sensory processing mechanisms.

Keywords:
Effector-dependencyForward modelSensory predictionTactile attenuationTime-dependency

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Sensory Perception

Background:

  • Tactile perception is modulated during movement (tactile gating effect) to optimize motor control.
  • This effect is linked to predictive sensory feedback mechanisms.
  • The impact of observing actions on tactile perception remains less explored.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if observing goal-directed actions influences tactile perception.
  • To determine how action observation affects tactile sensitivity compared to action execution.
  • To explore the temporal dynamics of tactile changes during action observation.

Main Methods:

  • Experiment 1: Measured vocal reaction times to tactile stimuli during observation of reach-to-grasp actions.
  • Stimuli were applied to congruent (hand) and incongruent (leg) body parts, contrasted with auditory stimuli.
  • Experiment 2: Employed a two-alternative forced-choice task to quantify tactile sensitivity changes.

Main Results:

  • Reaction times increased for tactile congruent stimuli during action observation compared to incongruent and auditory stimuli.
  • This heightened reaction time was specific to the reaching phase, not the grasping phase.
  • Tactile perceived intensity was reduced during the observation of the reaching phase.

Conclusions:

  • Observing goal-directed actions attenuates tactile perception, particularly during the reaching phase.
  • This suggests that sensory processing during action observation shares mechanisms with action execution.
  • Tactile gating during observation may serve to manage sensory information during anticipated movements.