Decoding tactile sensation: multiple regression analysis of monkey fingertip afferent mechanoreceptor population responses.

How complex tactile sensations are encoded by populations of afferent mechanoreceptors is currently not well understood. While much is known about how individual afferents respond to prescribed stimuli, their behavior as a population distributed across the fingertip has not been well described. In this study, tactile afferent mechanoreceptors in monkey fingertips were mechanically stimulated, using a flat disc shaped probe, with several magnitudes of normal force (1.