Representation of tactile curvature in macaque somatosensory area 2
Open accessAbstract
Tactile shape information is elaborated in a cortical hierarchy spanning primary (SI) and secondary somatosensory cortex (SII). Indeed, SI neurons in areas 3b and 1 encode simple contour features such as small oriented bars and edges, whereas higher order SII neurons represent large curved contour features such as angles and arcs. However, neural coding of these contour features has not been systematically characterized in area 2, the most caudal SI subdivision in the postcentral gyrus. In the present study, we analyzed area 2 neural responses to embossed oriented bars and curved contour fragments to establish whether curvature representations are generated in the postcentral gyrus. We found that many area 2 neurons (26 of 112) exhibit clear curvature tuning, preferring contours pointing in a particular direction. Fewer area 2 neurons (15 of 112) show preferences for oriented bars. Because area 2 response patterns closely resembled SII patterns, we also compared area 2 and SII response time courses to characterize the temporal dynamics of curvature synthesis in the somatosensory system. We found that curvature representations develop and peak concurrently in area 2 and SII. These results reveal that transitions from orientation tuning to curvature selectivity in the somatosensory cortical hierarchy occur within SI rather than between SI and SII.
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Visual and cutaneous representations of shape are analogous in the periphery and in cortex, both involving decomposition of shape into oriented contours and extraction of increasingly complex features such as curvature.
“Not only are the visual and cutaneous representations of shape analogous in the periphery, they are also analogous in cortex, both involving the decomposition of shape into a set of oriented contours (Bensmaia et al., 2008), then extracting increasingly complex stimulus features, such as curvature (Yau et al., 2013;2009).”
From Biomimetic approaches to bionic touch through a peripheral nerve interface (2015) · cites this paper as Yau et al., 2013
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- Authors
- Yau, J. M., Connor, C. E., & Hsiao, S. S.
- Affiliations
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Yau, Jeffrey M.
- Venue
- Journal of Neurophysiology
- Publisher
- American Physiological Society
- Published
- 2013-06-15
- Volume
- 109
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 2999-3012
- ISSN
- 0022-3077 (ISSN-L)
- 1522-1598
- PMC
- PMC3680817
- OpenAlex
- W2025764549
- Cited by
- 51
- References
- 79
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 4.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Neurophysiology (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01NS034086, NS 34086, NS062511, F31NS062511)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Motor Control and Adaptation
- Keywords
- secondary somatosensory cortex, primary somatosensory cortex, contour features, orientation tuning, postcentral gyrus, neural coding, macaque
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Female, Macaca mulatta, Male, Neurons, Orientation, Somatosensory Cortex, Touch, Touch Perception
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