Topic: P100

Imagery of sensations and attention to them are mental operations that have similarities but differ in function. Imagery generates internal sensory representations while attention prioritizes external or internal signals. This distinction is less clear in certain sensory systems such as the somatosensory system. Our study aimed to explore neural activity changes induced by tactile imagery (TI) and tactile attention (TA). Given the established facilitatory effect of TI on somatosensory processing, our study also aimed to investigate the effects of TA on somatosensory processing.Ten participants

Research on conscious somatosensory perception has mainly relied on electrical stimulation. Here, we directly compare the event-related potentials evoked by tactile vs. electrical peri-threshold stimulation, using a matching task to control for post-perceptual processes. EEG was recorded while participants received either electrical pulses to the left median nerve (n=24) or tactile stimulation at the left index finger (n=25). To control for confounding processes, participants did not directly report their experience, but indicated via saccades whether they experienced a match or a mismatch bet