The Role of Fingerprints in the Coding of Tactile Information Probed with a Biomimetic Sensor
Abstract
In humans, the tactile perception of fine textures (spatial scale <200 micrometers) is mediated by skin vibrations generated as the finger scans the surface. To establish the relationship between texture characteristics and subcutaneous vibrations, a biomimetic tactile sensor has been designed whose dimensions match those of the fingertip. When the sensor surface is patterned with parallel ridges mimicking the fingerprints, the spectrum of vibrations elicited by randomly textured substrates is dominated by one frequency set by the ratio of the scanning speed to the interridge distance. For human touch, this frequency falls within the optimal range of sensitivity of Pacinian afferents, which mediate the coding of fine textures. Thus, fingerprints may perform spectral selection and amplification of tactile information that facilitate its processing by specific mechanoreceptors.
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This project was supported primarily by CNRS basic funding and in part by the EU-NEST (New and Emerging Science and Technology) program, MONAT (Measurement of Naturalness) project (contract 21, number 29000). We are grateful to D. Chatenay and L. Bourdieu for fruitful discussions and careful reading of the manuscript.
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Science
Volume 323 | Issue 5920
13 March 2009
13 March 2009
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American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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Received: 26 September 2008
Accepted: 16 January 2009
Published in print: 13 March 2009
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