Scientists Find Memory In Fingertips | Fingertips Remember Everything You Touch!
In groundbreaking research, scientists have identified that we have memory at our fingertips. Researchers say that the mechanical memory of a fingertip affects the activity of tactile neurons. Scientists have found that our fingertips have a unique memory. It’s like our fingertips have a special kind of memory called “viscoelastic memory.“
When we touch something, special nerves in our fingers remember the pressure and tell our brain about it. Even after we touch something else, our fingertips still remember the past touches. This helps us use the right amount of force when we touch things. Let’s have a closer look at the study and its findings.
Research and Findings
Let’s say you’re lifting a coffee cup. Even such simple activities that we do daily can actually be complex in neurological terms. The brain ensures the correct application of force to lift the cup without smashing the cup or spilling the coffee. Tactile neurons in our fingertips actually register the forces applied to our hands. It senses deformations to the skin and it relays the information back to the brain.
Scientists from various credible institutions joined in for the study. Department of Psychology at the University of Sheffield, the School of Biomedical Sciences at UNSW Sydney, Neuroscience Research Australia, and the Department of Integrative and Medical Biology at Umeå University collaborated on the research.
“Residual deformations from previous forces will affect how the fingertip reacts mechanically when subjected to a new force. However, the extent to which this physical memory influences the signaling of tactile neurons during natural hand use is not well understood,” says lead author and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Hannes Saal.
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The research team uses a uniquely designed robot. The robot applies forces to the fingertips of 33 human participants. The nerve responses of each force are measured using electrodes. These electrodes are inserted into each human’s peripheral nerves.
With each different force, the researchers observed the effects of previous forces on the neuronal responses. Neuron firing had various changes when the stimuli were mixed up. The research understood that this is associated with the viscoelastic memory of the fingertip.
“The viscoelasticity of the human fingertip means that any deformation caused by a force acting on the fingertip lasts longer than the force itself,” says Hannes Saal.
Changes or deformations by previous forces can last longer than the force itself, according to the study. Tactile Neurons in the fingertip in response to an applied force influenced by the mechanical memory of the fingertip from previous forces. The study simply understands the details of the viscoelastic nature of the fingertips.
Conclusion
Scientists have found that our fingertips have a unique memory. When we touch something, special nerves in our fingers remember the pressure and tell our brain about it. Even after we touch something else, our fingertips still remember the past touches. This helps us use the right amount of force when we touch things. It’s like our fingertips have a special kind of memory called “viscoelastic memory.” This discovery is from a team of scientists from different universities using a special robot. It helps us understand how our fingertips work when we touch things.
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