ArticleNeuron2017
Active Touch and Self-Motion Encoding by Merkel Cell-Associated Afferents.
Article in Neuron, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 70 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
70 citing papers in PubMed.
- An elastic segment of the whisker shaft enables coding of the whisking phase via whisker torsion in rats and mice.Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) · 2026Article
- Peri-head distance coding in the mouse brainstem.Neuron · 2026Article
- Whisker-based pre-neuronal and peripheral encoding of surface stickiness.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Probabilistic Perceptual Decisions during Navigation Are Driven by a Small Subpopulation of Neurons in a Single Cortical Column of the Primary Somatosensory Cortex.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- Simultaneous encoding of sensory features: the role of multiplexing and noise in tactile perception and neural representation.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026Review
- Choline acetyltransferase as a marker for Merkel cells in mucosal and skin tissues.Journal of oral biosciences · 2026Article
- Club-like receptors respond to light touch but not to whisking.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Orofacial Movements: Individuality and Stereotypy When Mice Move a Single Whisker to Touch.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- Muscle spindles provide flexible sensory feedback for movement sequences.Cell reports · 2025Article
- Merkel cell stimulation in fear and sensory signaling.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Article
- Syngap1 promotes cognitive function through regulation of cortical sensorimotor dynamics.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Three-dimensional architecture and linearized mapping of vibrissa follicle afferents.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Article
- Sensory adaptation in the barrel cortex during active sensation in the behaving mouse.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Biomimetic Neuromorphic Sensory System via Electrolyte Gated Transistors.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Co-coding of head and whisker movements by both VPM and POm thalamic neurons.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Recent Advance in Synaptic Plasticity Modulation Techniques for Neuromorphic Applications.Nano-micro letters · 2024Review
- Cortical circuitry mediating interareal touch signal amplification.Cell reports · 2023Article
- Article
10 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Touch perception depends on integrating signals from multiple types of peripheral mechanoreceptors. Merkel-cell associated afferents are thought to play a major role in form perception by encoding surface features of touched objects. However, activity of Merkel afferents during active touch has not been directly measured. Here, we show that Merkel and unidentified slowly adapting afferents in the whisker system of behaving mice respond to both self-motion and active touch. Touch responses were dominated by sensitivity to bending moment (torque) at the base of the whisker and its rate of change and largely explained by a simple mechanical model. Self-motion responses encoded whisker position within a whisk cycle (phase), not absolute whisker angle, and arose from stresses reflecting whisker inertia and activity of specific muscles. Thus, Merkel afferents send to the brain multiplexed information about whisker position and surface features, suggesting that proprioception and touch converge at the earliest neural level.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.