Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

In this chapter we review psychological and physiological experiments on selective attention to touch stimuli. We explore the role of selective attention in tactile target detection and search, determining those tasks that benefit from attention and those which can be effectively performed pre-attentively. We also try to determine the stage at which attentional selection occurs. We review electrophysiological and human brain imaging (PET, fMRI, MEG, SEP) studies to assess how early in the somatosensory processing pathway attentional modulation occurs. There is some evidence that the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) can show attentional effects. However, a number of studies have suggested that there is a hierarchy to attentional modulation in the somatosensory system, with the greatest effects being observed in secondary and association areas.

Type

Journal article

Journal

Front Biosci

Publication Date

01/11/2000

Volume

5

Pages

D894 - D904

Keywords

Afferent Pathways, Animals, Attention, Behavior, Brain Mapping, Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory, Humans, Mechanoreceptors, Parietal Lobe, Physical Stimulation, Psychomotor Performance, Reaction Time, Sensory Thresholds, Somatosensory Cortex, Thalamus, Touch, Vibration