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Somatosensation

Somatosensation

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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Testing Tactile Masking between the Forearms

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Hand Posture Modulates Perceived Tactile Distance.

Matthew R Longo¹

¹Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, England. m.longo@bbk.ac.uk.

Scientific Reports

|August 31, 2017

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Body posture significantly impacts how we perceive touch. Spreading fingers apart, compared to keeping them together, increases the perceived distance between tactile sensations on the hand.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Somatosensory science
Perception research

Background:

Existing research indicates that body posture influences tactile perception and broader somatosensory processing.
The specific impact of internal hand posture on tactile distance perception remains an area for detailed investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how altering the internal postural configuration of the hand affects the perceived distance between tactile stimuli.
To determine if finger splaying (Apart posture) versus finger pressing (Together posture) influences tactile distance judgments.

Main Methods:

Two experiments were conducted using different tactile distance judgment tasks.
Participants adopted either an 'Apart' or 'Together' hand posture.
Tactile distances were presented in orientations along (proximal-distal) or across (medio-lateral) the hand axis.

Main Results:

A consistent bias was observed, with distances oriented across the hand perceived as larger than those along the hand.
Perceived tactile distance was significantly modulated by hand posture.
Judgments of tactile distance increased in both orientations when the fingers were splayed ('Apart' posture).

Conclusions:

Changes in the internal posture of the hand demonstrably alter the perceived distance between touches.
These findings contribute to the understanding of how proprioception and body schema influence tactile perception.
The study highlights the role of postural configuration in shaping somatosensory experiences.