ABSTRACT
Responses of single slowly adapting type I in the median nerve were recorded in anaesthetised monkeys. Matching neurophysiological experiments in monkeys have shown that this information is relayed by the cutaneous mechanoreceptive afferents, with the slowly adapting type I afferents playing a major role. Comparison of the neural population responses with human psychophysical performance allows candidate neural codes to be postulated. Humans use their hands to explore and manipulate a large variety of objects in their environment. In some cases active tactile exploration is used as a means to determine the form of an object, as occurs when an art lover explores the curves of a statue, a physician palpates a lump in a patient, or a spray painter assesses the smoothness of the finished surface. However, in most cases the acquisition of tactile information accompanies the purposive manipulation of an object, as occurs when using a computer mouse or when threading a needle.
