News tagged with sense of touch
A bit touchy: Plants' insect defenses activated by touch
A new study by Rice University scientists reveals that plants can use the sense of touch to fight off fungal infections and insects. The study, which will be published in the April 24 issue of Current Biology, finds ...
Apr 09, 2012 |
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Researchers suggests that bacteria communicate by touch
What if bacteria could talk to each other? What if they had a sense of touch? A new study by researchers at UC Santa Barbara suggests both, and theorizes that such cells may, in fact, need to communicate in ...
Mar 01, 2012 |
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Build music with blocks: Audio d-touch
Researchers at the University of Southampton have developed a new way to generate music and control computers.
Technology / Hi Tech & Innovation
Aug 24, 2011 |
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Can you feel the force?
Engineering students from the University of Leeds have found a way to let surgeons keep their sense of touch when operating at a distance with ‘keyhole’ techniques.
Aug 15, 2011 |
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Wearable device that vibrates fingertip could improve one's sense of touch
A little vibration can be a good thing for people who need a sensitive touch.
Aug 04, 2011 |
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Snail Braille reader could read books to the blind
(PhysOrg.com) -- To most of us, Braille is largely a mystery. It feels really cool, but the idea of actually reading it is kind of a pipe dream. Our sense of touch simply is not as sensitive as that of a blind ...
Technology / Hi Tech & Innovation
May 06, 2011 |
2.8 / 5 (6) |
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New model of whiskers provides insight into sense of touch
Researchers at Northwestern University have developed a model that will allow them to simulate how rats use their whiskers to sense objects around them. The model enables further research that may provide insight into the ...
Apr 07, 2011 |
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Virtual reality you can touch (w/ Video)
Researchers at the Computer Vision Lab at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, have developed a method with which they can produce virtual copies of real objects. The copies can be touched and even sent via the Internet. ...
Technology / Computer Sciences
Aug 19, 2010 |
4.5 / 5 (13) |
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Virtual reality you can reach out and touch
A team of European researchers has "virtually" teleported real objects through cyberspace, touched things in virtual reality and even felt the movements of a virtual dance partner.
Technology / Computer Sciences
Jul 01, 2010 |
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Touch: How a hard chair creates a hard heart
(PhysOrg.com) -- Through textures, shapes, weights and temperatures, the sense of touch influences both our thoughts and behavior. In a series of six experiments documented in the June 25 issue of the journal ...
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Jun 24, 2010 |
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Experience shapes the brain's circuitry throughout adulthood
The adult brain, long considered to be fixed in its wiring, is in fact remarkably dynamic. Neuroscientists once thought that the brain's wiring was fixed early in life, during a critical period beyond which changes were impossible. ...
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Jun 15, 2010 |
4.6 / 5 (10) |
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Artificial 'muscles' may pump up touch-screen typing
Any high schooler sneaking a text message in class can confirm that fingering the right buttons on a cell phone is a cinch, even if it's hidden in your pocket. But how about on a glass touch screen?
Technology / Hi Tech & Innovation
Apr 07, 2010 |
5 / 5 (1) |
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Small Fingers More Touch Sensitive
When it comes to finger sensitivity, bigger isn't always better.
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 16, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (5) |
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Virtual maps for the blind
The blind and visually impaired often rely on others to provide cues and information on navigating through their environments. The problem with this method is that it doesn't give them the tools to venture out on their own, ...
Sep 10, 2009 |
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Brain's object recognition system activated by touch alone
Portions of the brain that activate when people view pictures of objects compared to scrambled images can also be activated by touch alone, confirms a new report published online on May 28th in Current Biology.
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
May 28, 2009 |
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Somatosensory system
The somatosensory system is a diverse sensory system comprising the receptors and processing centres to produce the sensory modalities such as touch, temperature, proprioception (body position), and nociception (pain). The sensory receptors cover the skin and epithelia, skeletal muscles, bones and joints, internal organs, and the cardiovascular system. While touch is considered one of the five traditional senses, the impression of touch is formed from several modalities; In medicine, the colloquial term touch is usually replaced with somatic senses to better reflect the variety of mechanisms involved.
The system reacts to diverse stimuli using different receptors: thermoreceptors, mechanoreceptors and chemoreceptors. Transmission of information from the receptors passes via sensory nerves through tracts in the spinal cord and into the brain. Processing primarily occurs in the primary somatosensory area in the parietal lobe of the cerebral cortex.
At its simplest, the system works when a sensory neuron is triggered by a specific stimulus such as heat; this neuron passes to an area in the brain uniquely attributed to that area on the body—this allows the processed stimulus to be felt at the correct location. The mapping of the body surfaces in the brain is called a homunculus and is essential in the creation of a body image.
For more information about Somatosensory system, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
