Topic: primary somatosensory cortex

Electro- and magneto-encephalography (EEG/MEG) are the leading methods to non-invasively record human neural dynamics with millisecond temporal resolution. However, it can be extremely difficult to infer the underlying cellular and circuit level origins of these macro-scale signals without simultaneous invasive recordings. This limits the translation of E/MEG into novel principles of information processing, or into new treatment modalities for neural pathologies. To address this need, we developed the Human Neocortical Neurosolver (HNN: https://hnn.brown/edu ), a new user-friendly neural model

Social touch is crucial for optimal human development, given its contributions to emotional and behavioral regulation. Research has identified a set of tactile afferents – C-Tactile (CT) fibers – that fire specifically in response to receiving gentle touch on the skin. These fibers have been shown to project not only to somatosensory areas of the brain but also to social regions. There is also evidence that the processing of social touch is highly influenced by contextual factors, such as the identity of the person delivering the touch. This study aimed to compare the neural activation pattern