Neural basis and dynamics of touch: insights for biomimetic bionics

Neural signals from the skin, joints, and muscles inform us about the state of our limbs and convey information about the objects with which we interact. Without these sensory signals, we become severely impaired in our ability to move our bodies and interact with objects. In this talk, we discuss the receptors in our skin and muscles that mediate the senses of touch and proprioception. First, we describe the mechanisms that underlie the transduction of mechanical deformations into neuronal responses. Then, we examine how sensory information is encoded in the responses of the nerve fibers that carry signals from these receptors. Finally, we consider how these streams of afferent information are integrated to enable perception and action considering the cortical representation and the neural geometries of touch information. In the context of bionics, we can exploit these important underlying processes to design biomimetic approaches, which assume that coding algorithms that mimic natural neural signals will give rise to more intuitive tactile perceptions, thus endowing bionic limbs with greater dexterity.