What are the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of tactile information in the brain?
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The processing of tactile information in the brain involves intricate neural mechanisms. Studies have shown that prestimulus beta events in the primary somatosensory cortex correlate with sensory suppression, driven by bursts from higher-order thalamic regions and slow supragranular inhibition . Additionally, corticocortical networks, particularly involving the superior and inferior parietal lobules and superior temporal gyrus, play a crucial role in predicting tactile spatial acuity . Furthermore, the mouse superior colliculus exhibits stimulus-specific adaptation to differentiate self-generated from externally generated tactile stimuli, enhancing the localization of unexpected motion in the environment . These findings collectively highlight the complex interplay between thalamic inputs, cortical networks, and sensorimotor predictions in processing tactile information in the brain.
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3 Citations | Neural mechanisms involve spiking patterns in primary afferents, lateral inhibition in the cuneate nucleus, and cortical neurons with receptive fields tuned to edge orientations, facilitating tactile information processing. |
| Neural mechanisms for processing tactile information involve stimulus-specific adaptation, accumulating sensorimotor predictions, and population-level firing rates in the superior colliculus to enhance localization of externally generated tactile motion. | |
| Neural mechanisms for tactile spatial acuity involve beta resting-state functional connectivity in corticocortical networks like S1-superior parietal lobule, S1-inferior parietal lobule, and S1-superior temporal gyrus. | |
| Neural mechanisms involve thalamocortical interactions, beta event generation by higher-order thalamus, and slow supragranular inhibition influencing tactile perception, as shown in the study combining MEG and neural modeling. | |
16 Citations | Higher-order thalamic bursts driving beta events and slow supragranular inhibition regulate tactile perception. Beta events can both suppress and facilitate sensory processing in the brain. |
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