Neurons on the human skin also have computing power like the brain

ByAnn Larie Valentine

The neuron (neuronal cell) network present on the human skin has become clear that it has the ability to perform sophisticated calculation processing which was thought to be only provided to the brain so far.

Neurons in human skin perform advanced calculations
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-09/uu-nih090114.php

I did the research in Sweden ·Umea UniversityResearch team, research papers areNature NeuroscienceIt is announced in.

Edge-orientation processing in first-order tactile neurons: Nature Neuroscience: Nature Publishing Group
http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.3804.html


It exists in the human skinPrimary neuronThe basic role of the haptic system is to propagate to the brain that something touched the skin by creating a network of branched neurons in the skin.

However, according to the research team of Umeå University Department of Integrative Medical Biology (IMB), this branching structure not only transmits the tactile signal to the brain but also the object in contact with the skin I found that it has the ability to process geometric data of things.


Andrew Pruszynski, who is involved in the research team, said about his work "From the research results, we just tell the primary (tactile) neurons of our bodies about the object and how strong it touched the object I understood that there is a function to convey the shape information of the contacted object, "he said.


Research results also reveal that the sensitivity of grasping the shape of individual neurons varies depending on how the neurons constructed on the skin are distributed in the sensitive region.

Mr. Pruszynski said about the results of this research: "The most surprising thing is that the peripheral neurons functioning when there is contact with the substances at the fingertips are performing the same calculation processing as the neurons that exist in the cerebral cortex In short, this means that when we touch something, the computation process is already done by the neuron before the sensation reaches the brain. I will be there. "

ByLotus Carroll