Janet Taylor

How do we know the location of something we feel on our skin?

This entry was posted in Motor Impairment Blog New finding Sensation & falls and tagged body representation sensory map sensory representation tactile localization on by

When we are touched on the skin, sensory receptors in that location fire and send a signal via nerves to the brain, but this is not enough to let us know where on our body the touch occurred. To decipher where the touch is on the body, the brain needs […]

Participant seated in the experimental apperatus. Visible are the leather sleeve and metal occluder positioned on the participant's left forearm. The skin on either side of the metal occluder was brushed (not pictured), and the effect this had on touch localization was assessed by participants pointing on a digitizing table (gray divider between the subject's body and left arm) where they felt the tactile target.