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A touching tale: point sensor or pattern detector?

The tactile sensors in our fingers have variable sensitivity across the skin. Does this variability harm or help the CNS in touch perception? Work now shows that this variability may provide the CNS with more information about micropositioning and stimulus orientation.

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Figure 1: Tactile study of peripheral nerve arrangement.

Debbie Maizels/Nature Publishing Group

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Correspondence to David T Blake.

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Blake, D. A touching tale: point sensor or pattern detector?. Nat Neurosci 17, 1290–1291 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3820

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