Edited by
J.W. Morley, School of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Description
The world within reach is characterised to a large extent by our ability to sense objects through touch. Research into the sensation of
touch has a long history. However, it is only relatively recently that significant advances have been made in understanding how information
about objects we touch is represented in both the peripheral and central divisions of the nervous systems. This volume draws together
the increasing body of knowledge regarding the mechanisms underlying tactile sensation and how they relate to tactile perception.
Individual
chapters address; the response of mechanoreceptors to stimuli (including movement and shape), the role of the somatosensory cortex in
processing tactile information, the psychophysics and neurophysiology of the detection and categorisation of somesthetic stimuli, perceptual
constancy, recent findings in regard to short term and long term plasticity in the somatosensory cortex and the psychophysical correlates
of this plasticity, and parallel versus serial information processing in the cortex.
The authors look at past and current research,
and comment on the direction of future investigation, relating findings from psychophysical studies of tactile behavior to our growing
understanding of the underlying neural mechanisms.
Included in series
Advances in Psychology
Audience:
For neuroscientists, physiologists, cognitive and experimental psychologists.
