Human Somatosensory Processing and Artificial Somatosensation - PubMed (original) (raw)

Review

Human Somatosensory Processing and Artificial Somatosensation

Luyao Wang et al. Cyborg Bionic Syst. 2021.

Abstract

In the past few years, we have gained a better understanding of the information processing mechanism in the human brain, which has led to advances in artificial intelligence and humanoid robots. However, among the various sensory systems, studying the somatosensory system presents the greatest challenge. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of the human somatosensory system and its corresponding applications in artificial systems. Due to the uniqueness of the human hand in integrating receptor and actuator functions, we focused on the role of the somatosensory system in object recognition and action guidance. First, the low-threshold mechanoreceptors in the human skin and somatotopic organization principles along the ascending pathway, which are fundamental to artificial skin, were summarized. Second, we discuss high-level brain areas, which interacted with each other in the haptic object recognition. Based on this close-loop route, we used prosthetic upper limbs as an example to highlight the importance of somatosensory information. Finally, we present prospective research directions for human haptic perception, which could guide the development of artificial somatosensory systems.

Copyright © 2021 Luyao Wang et al.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Human somatosensory pathway. (a) Schematic diagram. (b) Flow chart. The red line is the ascending somatosensory pathway, which refers to the neural pathways by which haptic information from the peripheral mechanoreceptor is transmitted to the cerebral cortex. The blue line is the descending motor pathway, which refers to the pathways by which motor signals are sent from the brain to lower motor neurons in joint and muscle.

Figure 2

Figure 2

A comparison of four types of low-threshold mechanoreceptors (LTMRs). (a) Location of the LTMRs in the glabrous skin. (b) Stimulus response properties. (c) Optimal stimulus for each LTMR and corresponding haptic sensor.

Figure 3

Figure 3

Somatosensory-related areas. (a) General organization of the somatosensory pathway. (b) Somatotopic map of the primary somatosensory cortex.

Figure 4

Figure 4

Somatosensory processing for action. (a) Two-stream processing in the somatosensory system. (b) General organization of the motor corticospinal pathway. SPL: superior parietal lobe; IPS: intraparietal sulcus; IPL: inferior parietal lobe; S1: primary somatosensory cortex; S2: secondary somatosensory cortex; M1: primary motor cortex; dPM: dorsal premotor cortex; vPM: ventral premotor cortex; ACC: anterior cingulate cortex; lPFC: lateral prefrontal cortex; mPFC: medial prefrontal cortex.

Figure 5

Figure 5

Prothesis system diagram. Haptic information from an object is transformed into a neuromorphic signal. The neuromorphic signal is used to transcutaneously stimulate the peripheral nerves of an amputee to elicit the sensory perception of touch and then ascend to the brain through the spinal cord.

Figure 6

Figure 6

Future direction. We proposed three unresolved questions about the somatosensory pathway including the processing of haptic working memory, affective information, and somatosensory encoding scheme. The new findings of the human somatosensory system could promote the development artificial somatosensation and could be applied in more fields.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Martell J., Elmer T., Gopalsami N., Park Y. S. Visual measurement of suture strain for robotic surgery. Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine . 2011;2011:9. doi: 10.1155/2011/879086. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Vallbo A. B., Johansson R. S. Properties of cutaneous mechanoreceptors in the human hand related to touch sensation. Human Neurobiology . 1984;3(1):3–14. - PubMed
    1. McGlone F., Vallbo A. B., Olausson H., Loken L., Wessberg J. Discriminative touch and emotional touch. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology-Revue Canadienne De Psychologie Experimentale . 2007;61(3):173–183. doi: 10.1037/cjep2007019. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Löken L. S., Wessberg J., McGlone F., Olausson H. Coding of pleasant touch by unmyelinated afferents in humans. Nature Neuroscience . 2009;12(5):547–548. doi: 10.1038/nn.2312. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mancini F., Bauleo A., Cole J., et al. Whole-body mapping of spatial acuity for pain and touch. Annals of Neurology . 2014;75(6):917–924. doi: 10.1002/ana.24179. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources