Coding of pleasant touch by unmyelinated afferents in humans
Loken, Wessberg, Morrison, McGlone and Olausson, Nature Neuroscience 12(5), 2009, 547-548. Recordings from touch fibres during soft brush strokes at different speeds. Low-threshold unmyelinated C-tactile afferents responded most strongly at intermediate speeds of about 1 to 10 centimetres per second, the speeds volunteers rated most pleasant; myelinated afferents did not show the pattern. The authors propose a dedicated route for pleasant touch, likely signalling affiliative contact.
Loken, Wessberg, Morrison, McGlone and Olausson, Nature Neuroscience 12(5), 2009, 547-548. Recordings from touch fibres during soft brush strokes at different speeds. Low-threshold unmyelinated C-tactile afferents responded most strongly at intermediate speeds of about 1 to 10 centimetres per second, the speeds volunteers rated most pleasant; myelinated afferents did not show the pattern. The authors propose a dedicated route for pleasant touch, likely signalling affiliative contact.
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Löken, L. S., Wessberg, J., Morrison, I., McGlone, F., & Olausson, H. (2009). Coding of pleasant touch by unmyelinated afferents in humans. Nature Neuroscience, 12(5), 547-548. doi:10.1038/nn.2312 https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2312