Cell Sub-Magazine: Behind the Scenes? The brain can transcend the boundaries of body positioning touch

New research shows that when we touch an object we hold, in addition to feeling the change in pressure passing on to our fingers, we can determine the exact location of contact on the object, and even if it is not directly on the body, our brain can detect the position of the touchThe tools in hand are almost like extensions of ourselvesThe study was published in The Current Biologyin more than 400 tests, several study participants held wooden poles, felt and determined where they struck twice on the rodIn addition, the researchers used electroencephalogram (EEG) devices to record participants' brain activityThe results showed that participants recognized the accuracy of two touches by 96%, and the brain used similar neural mechanisms to detect how our own skin and the objects they held feltthe supposed neural mechanisms of sensing the touch position on the skin and tools
researchers believe that we may be able to determine the location of vibrations before objects stop vibratingAccording to the computer model that the team built to run, this can happen in as little as 20 millisecondsWhen the Pacinian receptors in our skin receive information, the part of the brain responsible for this function can find out where the object was hit, and we may have adjusted the way the tool is held to better feed back on how the tools workthe tools we use extend the body's body-sensing boundaries at the nerve level, not just on the skin, but beyond the nervous system, including the tools we useone of the areas that this research could apply in the future is the design of prosthetics, which we might use as sensors to better benefit people with disabilities if we understand how the body's contact with certain materials delivers information to our brains.