How tactile afferents in the human fingerpad encode tangential torques associated with manipulation: are monkeys better than us?

Abstract

Dexterous object manipulation depends critically on information about forces normal and tangential to the fingerpads, and also on torque associated with object orientation at grip surfaces. We investigated how torque information is encoded by human tactile afferents in the fingerpads and compared them to 97 afferents recorded in monkeys (n=3; 2 females) in our previous study. Human data included slowly-adapting type-II (SA-II) afferents, which are absent in the glabrous skin of monkeys. Torques of different magnitudes (3.5-7.5 mNm) were applied in clockwise and anticlockwise directions to a standard central site on the fingerpads of 34 human subjects (19 females). Torques were superimposed on a 2 N, 3 N, or 4 N background normal force. Unitary recordings were made from fast-adapting type-I (FA-I, n=39), and slowly-adapting type-I (SA-I, n=31) and type-II (SA-II, n=13) afferents supplying the fingerpads via microelectrodes inserted into the median nerve. All three afferent types encoded torque magnitude and direction, with torque sensitivity being higher with smaller normal forces. SA-I afferent responses to static torque were inferior to dynamic stimuli in humans, while in monkeys the opposite was true. In humans this might be compensated by the addition of sustained SA-II afferent input, and their capacity to increase or decrease firing rates with direction of rotation. We conclude that the discrimination capacity of individual afferents of each type was inferior in humans than monkeys which could be due to differences in fingertip tissue compliance and skin friction.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT:

We investigated how individual human tactile nerve fibres encode rotational forces (torques) and compared them to their monkey counterparts. Human hands, but not monkey hands, are innervated by a tactile neuron type (SA-II afferents) specialised to encode directional skin strain yet, so far, torque encoding has only been studied in monkeys. We find that human SA-I afferents were generally less sensitive and less able to discriminate torque magnitude and direction than their monkey counterparts, especially during the static phase of torque loading. However, this shortfall in humans could be compensated by SA-II afferent input. This indicates that variation in afferent types might complement each other signalling different stimulus features possibly providing computational advantage to discriminate stimuli.