An individual's skin stiffness predicts their tactile discrimination of compliance
An individual's skin stiffness predicts their tactile discrimination of compliance
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DOI：
10.1113/jp285271
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发表时间：
2023-11-09
影响因子：
5.5
通讯作者：
Gerling，Gregory J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Li，Bingxu;Gerling，Gregory J.
触觉灵敏度的个体差异与年龄、性别和手指大小有关，而皮肤硬度的作用尚未得到充分研究。使用一种方法来成像与透明弹性物体接触期间皮肤表面的3D变形，我们评估了40名年轻参与者的队列，他们呈现出不同的手指尺寸，皮肤硬度和指纹脊宽度。结果表明，皮肤硬度一般与手指的大小，虽然个人与相对较软的皮肤可以更好地区分顺应对象。在皮肤表面的接触的分析表明，较软的皮肤产生更突出的变形模式，特别是更大的接触面积的变化率，这与较高的顺应性的感知辨别率，无论手指的大小。此外，在应用透明质酸软化个人皮肤后，我们观察到皮肤变形的立即、显着和系统性变化，以及随后区分依从性的感知敏锐度的改善。总之，皮肤表面的3-D成像、生物力学测量、多元回归和聚类以及心理物理学实验的结合表明，皮肤硬度的细微差异调节了触觉的机械信号，并形成了感知敏锐度的个体差异。关键点尽管触觉敏锐度随年龄增长而下降是多种因素的函数，但对于年轻人来说，目前的工作假设是，由于神经传入的密度较高，较小的手指更善于提供感知辨别。为了消除手指大小，皮肤硬度和指纹脊宽度对皮肤特性触觉敏锐度的相对影响，我们结合了皮肤表面变形的3D成像，生物力学测量，多元回归和聚类，以及心理物理学。结果表明，皮肤硬度通常与手指大小相关，尽管它更稳健地与个体的感知敏锐度相关并预测个体的感知敏锐度。特别是，更有弹性的皮肤产生更高的变形率，这与感知辨别力相关，通过用透明质酸软化每个参与者的皮肤，我们发现皮肤的硬度强烈地塑造了触摸的信号，并调节了感知敏锐度的个体差异。
AbstractIndividual differences in tactile acuity have been correlated with age, gender and finger size, whereas the role of the skin's stiffness has been underexplored. Using an approach to image the 3‐D deformation of the skin surface during contact with transparent elastic objects, we evaluate a cohort of 40 young participants, who present a diverse range of finger size, skin stiffness and fingerprint ridge breadth. The results indicate that skin stiffness generally correlates with finger size, although individuals with relatively softer skin can better discriminate compliant objects. Analysis of contact at the skin surface reveals that softer skin generates more prominent patterns of deformation, in particular greater rates of change in contact area, which correlate with higher rates of perceptual discrimination of compliance, regardless of finger size. Moreover, upon applying hyaluronic acid to soften individuals’ skin, we observe immediate, marked and systematic changes in skin deformation and consequent improvements in perceptual acuity in differentiating compliance. Together, the combination of 3‐D imaging of the skin surface, biomechanics measurements, multivariate regression and clustering, and psychophysical experiments show that subtle distinctions in skin stiffness modulate the mechanical signalling of touch and shape individual differences in perceptual acuity.Key pointsAlthough declines in tactile acuity with ageing are a function of multiple factors, for younger people, the current working hypothesis has been that smaller fingers are better at informing perceptual discrimination because of a higher density of neural afferents.To decouple relative impacts on tactile acuity of skin properties of finger size, skin stiffness, and fingerprint ridge breadth, we combined 3‐D imaging of skin surface deformation, biomechanical measurements, multivariate regression and clustering, and psychophysics.The results indicate that skin stiffness generally correlates with finger size, although it more robustly correlates with and predicts an individual's perceptual acuity.In particular, more elastic skin generates higher rates of deformation, which correlate with perceptual discrimination, shown most dramatically by softening each participant's skin with hyaluronic acid.In refining the current working hypothesis, we show the skin's stiffness strongly shapes the signalling of touch and modulates individual differences in perceptual acuity.