Conveying tactile object characteristics through customized intracortical microstimulation of the human somatosensory cortex.

ABSTRACT: Microstimulation of the somatosensory cortex can evoke tactile percepts in people with spinal cord injury, providing a means to restore touch. While location and intensity can be reliably conveyed, two issues that prevent creating more complex naturalistic sensations are a lack of methods to effectively scan the large stimulus parameter space and difficulties with assessing percept quality. Here, we address both challenges with an experimental paradigm that enables three male individuals with tetraplegia to control their stimulation parameters in a blinded fashion to create sensations for different virtual objects. Using this method, participants can reliably create object-specific sensations and report vivid object-appropriate characteristics. Moreover, both linear classifiers and partici

SUBMITTER: Verbaarschot C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12046030 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature