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Classification of somatosensory cortex activities using fNIRS.

Keum-Shik Hong¹, M Raheel Bhutta², Xiaolong Liu³

¹School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, South Korea; Department of Cogno-Mechatronics Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, South Korea.

Behavioural Brain Research

|July 3, 2017

Summary

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) successfully distinguished hemodynamic responses in the somatosensory cortex to four distinct tactile sensations. This neuroimaging technique offers an objective method for differentiating tactile stimulations.

Keywords:

Linear discriminant analysis Multi-sensory decoding Somatosensory cortex Tactile stimulation fNIRS

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Published on: December 5, 2014

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Biomedical Engineering
Sensory Perception

Background:

The somatosensory cortex is crucial for processing tactile information, enabling environmental perception.
Differentiating tactile sensations is vital for understanding sensory processing and brain function.
Objective measures are needed to reliably discriminate between various tactile inputs.

Purpose of the Study:

To employ functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to differentiate hemodynamic responses (HRs) in the somatosensory cortex.
To classify four distinct tactile stimulations (handshake, ball grasp, poking, cold temperature) based on brain activity.
To assess the potential of fNIRS as an objective tool for tactile sensation discrimination.

Main Methods:

A lab-made multi-channel functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) system was used.
Hemodynamic responses (HRs) to four tactile stimulations on the right hand were recorded from eight healthy male subjects.
Linear discriminant analysis, using features of oxy-hemoglobin (HbO) signals (mean, peak, skewness), classified the data.

Main Results:

Handshake and poking stimulations elicited higher peak oxy-hemoglobin (HbO) levels compared to ball grasp and cold temperature.
Classification accuracies for distinguishing between different tactile stimulations exceeded chance levels.
Two-class comparisons (poking vs. temperature, handshake vs. ball grasp) also showed successful discrimination.

Conclusions:

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) can effectively discriminate between different tactile stimulations based on somatosensory cortex activity.
The study demonstrates the utility of fNIRS in objectively measuring brain responses to tactile stimuli.
fNIRS shows promise as a non-invasive tool for neuroscientific research on sensory processing.