How tactile vibrations create illusions

Vibrations are interpreted in the same way by mice and humans. ©Daniel Huber, UNIGE. Researchers from the University of Geneva and UNIFR decipher how the amplitude and frequency of tactile vibrations can bias how the brain interprets them. Among the traditional five human senses, touch is perhaps the least studied. Yet, it is solicited everywhere, all the time, and even more so in recent years with the widespread daily use of electronic devices that emit vibrations. Indeed, any moving object transmits oscillatory signals that propagate through solid substrates. Our body detects them by means of mechanoreceptors located below the skin and transmits the information to the brain similarly to auditory, olfactory or visual stimuli.