How texture deceives the moving finger
The perceived speed of a surface moving across the skin depends on texture, with some textures fooling us into thinking that an object is moving faster than it is, according to a study published August 27 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Sliman Bensmaia of the University of Chicago, and colleagues. The researchers explore the basis for this tactile illusion and show that texture-dependent speed perception is determined by the responses of a specific type of nerve fiber in the skin. When we manipulate objects, we acquire information about their properties, including shape and texture, through the sense of touch. But motion is an essential component of everyday tactile experience, and most manual interactions involve relative movement between the skin and objects. However, very little is known about how motion is represented in the responses of tactile nerve fibers; much of the research on the neural basis of tactile motion perception has focused on how direction is enco...