Tapered whiskers are required for active tactile sensation
Many mammals forage and burrow in dark constrained spaces. Touch through facial whiskers is important during these activities, but the close quarters makes whisker deployment challenging. The diverse shapes of facial whiskers reflect distinct ecological niches. Rodent whiskers are conical, often wit...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2013-11-01
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| Series: | eLife |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/01350 |
| _version_ | 1811235901607510016 |
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| author | Samuel Andrew Hires Lorenz Pammer Karel Svoboda David Golomb |
| author_facet | Samuel Andrew Hires Lorenz Pammer Karel Svoboda David Golomb |
| author_sort | Samuel Andrew Hires |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Many mammals forage and burrow in dark constrained spaces. Touch through facial whiskers is important during these activities, but the close quarters makes whisker deployment challenging. The diverse shapes of facial whiskers reflect distinct ecological niches. Rodent whiskers are conical, often with a remarkably linear taper. Here we use theoretical and experimental methods to analyze interactions of mouse whiskers with objects. When pushed into objects, conical whiskers suddenly slip at a critical angle. In contrast, cylindrical whiskers do not slip for biologically plausible movements. Conical whiskers sweep across objects and textures in characteristic sequences of brief sticks and slips, which provide information about the tactile world. In contrast, cylindrical whiskers stick and remain stuck, even when sweeping across fine textures. Thus the conical whisker structure is adaptive for sensor mobility in constrained environments and in feature extraction during active haptic exploration of objects and surfaces. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T12:00:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8500640b840d486f900def1284424d3a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T12:00:29Z |
| publishDate | 2013-11-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj.art-8500640b840d486f900def1284424d3a2022-12-22T03:33:53ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2013-11-01210.7554/eLife.01350Tapered whiskers are required for active tactile sensationSamuel Andrew Hires0Lorenz Pammer1Karel Svoboda2David Golomb3Janelia Farm Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United StatesJanelia Farm Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States; Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt am Main, GermanyJanelia Farm Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United StatesJanelia Farm Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States; Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, Ben Gurion University, Be’er-Sheva, Israel; Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben Gurion University, Be’er-Sheva, IsraelMany mammals forage and burrow in dark constrained spaces. Touch through facial whiskers is important during these activities, but the close quarters makes whisker deployment challenging. The diverse shapes of facial whiskers reflect distinct ecological niches. Rodent whiskers are conical, often with a remarkably linear taper. Here we use theoretical and experimental methods to analyze interactions of mouse whiskers with objects. When pushed into objects, conical whiskers suddenly slip at a critical angle. In contrast, cylindrical whiskers do not slip for biologically plausible movements. Conical whiskers sweep across objects and textures in characteristic sequences of brief sticks and slips, which provide information about the tactile world. In contrast, cylindrical whiskers stick and remain stuck, even when sweeping across fine textures. Thus the conical whisker structure is adaptive for sensor mobility in constrained environments and in feature extraction during active haptic exploration of objects and surfaces.https://elifesciences.org/articles/01350WhiskerBarrel CortexSomatosensation |
| spellingShingle | Samuel Andrew Hires Lorenz Pammer Karel Svoboda David Golomb Tapered whiskers are required for active tactile sensation eLife Whisker Barrel Cortex Somatosensation |
| title | Tapered whiskers are required for active tactile sensation |
| title_full | Tapered whiskers are required for active tactile sensation |
| title_fullStr | Tapered whiskers are required for active tactile sensation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tapered whiskers are required for active tactile sensation |
| title_short | Tapered whiskers are required for active tactile sensation |
| title_sort | tapered whiskers are required for active tactile sensation |
| topic | Whisker Barrel Cortex Somatosensation |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/01350 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT samuelandrewhires taperedwhiskersarerequiredforactivetactilesensation AT lorenzpammer taperedwhiskersarerequiredforactivetactilesensation AT karelsvoboda taperedwhiskersarerequiredforactivetactilesensation AT davidgolomb taperedwhiskersarerequiredforactivetactilesensation |