Psychophysical investigation and computational modeling of tactile perception

我们认为通过触觉感知外部世界的能力是理所当然的，但神经系统是如何完成这一非凡壮举的呢？我们的目标是回答这个问题。我们的目标是： 1.跟踪儿童触觉的发展情况。我们之前已经证明，手指较小的成年人可以通过触摸感知更精细的空间细节，可能是因为较小的手指拥有更紧密的触觉感受器。我们现在将确定，由于儿童的手指较小，他们的触觉空间知觉是否比成年人更好。我们将研究6至16岁的儿童。 2.考察触觉知觉学习。触觉能通过练习提高吗？我们将对人们进行具有挑战性的触觉任务的培训，包括盲文阅读，并在整个培训过程中跟踪他们的触觉。这个目标将回答的一个耐人寻味的问题是，一个学习盲文的有视力的人是否会发展出与盲人盲文读者一样的触觉。 3.了解触觉错觉。我们之前曾发表过一项关于触摸错觉的解释，在这种错觉中，快速轻拍皮肤会被误解。如果我们的解释是正确的，它将为我们了解大脑的感知方式提供重要的见解。我们将测试我们的解释模型的预测。 4.创造能通过触觉“感知”的计算机程序。触觉(对物理刺激的神经反应)始于皮肤中的感受器，但触觉(对这种神经活动的解释)是由大脑实现的。我们将开发和测试一系列“计算大脑”模型，解释模拟神经元中的电脉冲，以构建对接触皮肤的东西的感知。这些模型有望提供对触觉感知过程的完整描述。 这项拟议中的研究将有助于阐明人类触觉的神秘“如何”。

We take for granted our ability to perceive the external world through the sense of touch, but how does the nervous system accomplish this remarkable feat? We aim to answer this question. Our objectives are to: 1. track the development of the sense of touch in children. We have previously shown that adults with smaller fingers can perceive finer spatial details by touch, probably because smaller fingers have more closely spaced tactile receptors. We will now determine whether children, since their fingers are smaller, have even better tactile spatial perception than adults. We will study children from 6 to 16 years of age. 2. investigate tactile perceptual learning. Can the sense of touch improve through practice? We will train people on challenging tactile tasks, including Braille reading, and track their sense of touch throughout training. One intriguing question that this objective will answer is whether a sighted person who learns Braille will develop a sense of touch equal to that of a blind Braille reader. 3. understand tactile illusions. We have previously published an explanation for illusions of touch, in which rapidly placed taps to the skin are misperceived. Our explanation, if correct, provides important insights into how the brain perceives. We will test the predictions of our explanatory model. 4. create computer programs that "perceive" by touch. Tactile sensation (the neural response to a physical stimulus) begins with the receptors in the skin, but tactile perception (the interpretation of this neural activity) is achieved by the brain. We will develop and test a series of "computational brain" models that interpret the electrical impulses in simulated neurons in order to construct a perception of what has touched the skin. These models hold the promise of providing a complete description of the tactile perceptual process. The proposed research will help to elucidate the mysterious "how" of human tactile perception.