Longo, Matthew (2024) Precise tactile localisation on the human fingernail. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 291 (2026), ISSN 0962-8452.
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Abstract
Fingernails are specialised features of the primate hand which are believed to contribute to manual dexterity. The sensorimotor functions of fingernails, however, remain poorly understood. This study investigated the ability of humans to precisely localise touches applied to the fingernail plate. Nine different locations on the fingernail were touched and participants judged the location by clicking a mouse cursor on a photograph of their finger. Performance in this condition was compared to stimuli applied to the skin of the fingertip. The results showed that participants are able to localise touch on the fingernails at substantial higher than chance levels. Moreover, the precision of this ability is not appreciably lower than that on the fingertips. These results show that the fingernail is a highly sensitive sensory organ which is capable to providing rich spatial information about tactile stimuli.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Psychological Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Matthew Longo |
| Date Deposited: | 21 Jun 2024 15:34 |
| Last Modified: | 04 Sep 2024 17:32 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/53738 |
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