Age and laterality differences in tactile pattern recognition

触觉模式识别中的年龄和偏侧性差异

• 批准号: 217299-2006
• 负责人: Tremblay, François
• 金额: $ 0.8万
• 依托单位: University of Ottawa
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2008-01-01 至 2009-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=393204
• 关键词: Age; laterality; differences; tactile; pattern

In the field of haptic perception, the issue of laterality has been the object of much controversy over the years with regards to the superiority of one hemisphere/hand versus the other. While the prevailing view has been that the right hemisphere might be superior to the left when the discrimination involves complex shapes and patterns, the evidence for this has not been very robust. In the proposed studies, I will use tactile letter recognition at the fingertip as a window to explore age and laterality effects in tactile form perception. One series of experiments will compare the ability of young (18-30 years) and old adults (60-75 years) to recognize letters by touch using either the left or the right hand to look for possible asymmetries in performance and for possible changes in asymmetry patterns with age. Preliminary work in young adults already indicates that letters are more easily recognized when sensing with the left, as compared to, the right hand. A second series of experiments will compare manual strategies used by young and old adults when exploring patterns by touch. Such comparison will reveal whether exploration strategies differ between the two hands and whether old persons display specific age-related changes in exploratory behaviours. To characterize strategies used for pattern recognition, contact forces deployed during tactile exploration will be measured using a sensitive touch-plate equipped with force transducers. Finally, hemispheric contribution to tactile pattern recognition will be assessed by examining how performance (hit/miss rate and response time) is affected when transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is applied over specific sites on each hemisphere. Both performance enhancement and decrement have been reported in response to TMS application and thus the direction of the effect on each hemisphere may unveil a predominant contribution of one versus the other. These experiments, altogether, will lead to a better delineation of the degree to which hemispheric lateralization is important for complex pattern recognition by touch and how such a lateralization is modified as people advance in age.

在触觉感知领域，偏侧性问题多年来一直是关于一个半球/手相对于另一个半球/手的优势的许多争议的对象。虽然普遍的观点认为，当辨别涉及复杂的形状和模式时，右脑可能比左脑优越上级，但这方面的证据并不十分有力。在本研究中，我将以指尖的触觉字母识别为窗口，探讨触觉形状知觉的年龄和偏侧效应。一系列实验将比较年轻人（18-30岁）和老年人（60-75岁）通过左手或右手触摸识别字母的能力，以寻找表现中可能的不对称性以及不对称模式随年龄的可能变化。对年轻人的初步研究已经表明，与右手相比，左手更容易识别字母。第二个系列的实验将比较年轻人和老年人在探索触摸模式时使用的手动策略。这种比较将揭示探索策略是否在两只手之间存在差异，以及老年人在探索行为中是否表现出特定的年龄相关变化。为了表征用于模式识别的策略，将使用配备有力传感器的敏感触摸板测量触觉探索期间部署的接触力。最后，将通过检查当经颅磁刺激（TMS）应用于每个半球的特定部位时，如何影响性能（命中/未命中率和响应时间）来评估半球对触觉模式识别的贡献。性能的增强和减量已被报道在响应TMS应用程序，因此，对每个半球的影响的方向可能会揭示一个相对于其他的主要贡献。总之，这些实验将更好地描述半球侧化在触摸复杂模式识别中的重要程度，以及这种侧化如何随着人们年龄的增长而改变。