[accessibleimage] Catch Rats' Twitchy Whiskers In Action

Perhaps a bit off subject but ....
excerpt http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/98619.php
MIT Researchers Catch Rats' Twitchy Whiskers In Action
27 Feb 2008
Rats use their whiskers in a way that is closely related to the human sense of touch: Just as humans move their fingertips across a surface to perceive shapes and textures, rats twitch their whiskers to achieve the same goal. Now, in a finding that could help further understanding of perception across species, MIT neuroscientists have used high-speed video to reveal rat whiskers in action and show the tiny movements that underlie the rat's perception of its tactile environment.
Rats rely on whiskers to find their way in the dark, and they devote large areas of their brains to decoding the incoming signals, explains Christopher Moore, ......
"Now that we can see what the rat's whiskers are telling the brain, we can start to understand better how this amazing perceptual system works," says Moore, who is also an assistant professor in MIT's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. "This understanding is relevant not only to the human sense of touch, but to all forms of perception, because every sensory organ is an interface between the mind and the external world."



Lisa Yayla
Huseby Kompetansesenter
Oslo Norway
lisa.yayla@xxxxxxxxxx

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