Biophysical properties of the human finger for touch comprehension: influences of ageing and gender

Abdouni, Abdenaceur; Djaghloul, M.; Thieulin, C.; Vargiolu, R.; Pailler-Mattéi, C.; Zahouani, H.

doi:10.1098/rsos.170321

Cited by 39 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 43 publications

(78 reference statements)

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“…microscopic) material properties could be revealed by appropriate mechanical characterisation techniques . Recent work by Abdouni et al [189,190] looked at experimentally characterising the influence of gender and age on the biophysical properties of the human finger , and also on touch gesture and tactile perception [190]. These authors found a ositive correlation between age and Young's modulus (determined through indentation experiment), higher for women than for men.…”

Section: Skin Sensing Abilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Biotribology of the ageing skin—Why we should care

et al. 2019

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Ageing of populations has emerged as one of the most pressing societal, economic and healthcare challenges currently facing most nations across the globe. The ageing process itself results in degradation of physiological functions and biophysical properties of organs and tissues, and more particularly those of the skin. Moreover, in both developed and emerging economies, population ageing parallels concerning increases in lifestyleassociated conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, obesity and skin cancers. When considered together, these demographic trends call for even greater urgency to find clinical and engineering solutions for the numerous age-related deficits in skin function. From a tribological perspective, detrimental alterations of skin bioph ysical properties with age have fundamental consequences on how one interacts with the body's inner and outer environments. This stems from the fact that, besides being the largest organ of the human body, and also nearly covering its entirety, the skin is a multifunctional interface which mediates these interactions. The aim of this paper is to present a focused review to discuss some of the consequences of skin ageing from the viewpoint of biotribology, and their implications on health, well -being and human activities. Current and future research questions/challenges associated with biotribology of the ageing ski n are outlined. They provide the background and motivation for identifying future lines of research that could be taken up by the biotribology and biophysics communities.

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Section: Skin Sensing Abilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, Type 2 diabetes, certain types of cancer (e.g. breast cancer) and immunoscenescence [200], there are also gender-specific manifestations of ageing in skin, such as in tactile perception [189,190].…”

Section: Perspective and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biotribology of the ageing skin—Why we should care

et al. 2019

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“…The psychophysical dimensions of touch have also been studied (Taylor and Lederman, 1975;Jones and Lederman, 2006;McGlone and Reilly, 2010;Zahouani et al, 2013;Abdouni et al, 2017Abdouni et al, , 2018. The "epicritical" sensitivity corresponds to the fine and discriminative touch (shape, contours, texture, and relief) (Mountcastle, 2005), while the "protopathic" sensitivity corresponds to the cutaneous sensitivity triggered by strong stimulation, like temperature.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotion Measurements Through the Touch of Materials Surfaces

Bertheaux

Toscano

Fortunier

et al. 2020

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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The emotion generated by the touch of materials is studied via a protocol based on blind assessment of various stimuli. The human emotional reaction felt toward a material is estimated through (i) explicit measurements, using a questionnaire collecting valence and intensity, and (ii) implicit measurements of the activity of the autonomic nervous system, via a pupillometry equipment. A panel of 25 university students (13 women, 12 men), aged from 18 to 27, tested blind twelve materials such as polymers, sandpapers, wood, velvet and fur, randomly ordered. After measuring the initial pupil diameter, taken as a reference, its variation during the tactile exploration was recorded. After each touch, the participants were asked to quantify the emotional value of the material. The results show that the pupil size variation follows the emotional intensity. It is significantly larger during the touch of materials considered as pleasant or unpleasant, than with the touch of neutral materials. Moreover, after a time period of about 0.5 s following the stimulus, the results reveal significant differences between pleasant and unpleasant stimuli, as well as differences according to gender, i.e., higher pupil dilatation of women than men. These results suggest (i) that the autonomic nervous system is initially sensitive to high arousing stimulation, and (ii) that, after a certain period, the pupil size changes according to the cognitive interest induced and the emotional regulation adopted. This research shows the interest of the emotional characterization of materials for product design.

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“…For tactile perception, we knew that the density of Meissner corpuscles is higher in the small finger 36 . In this study, we seek the age and the gender effect on static and active tactile perception via the contact area for the flowing reasons: The real contact area synthesizes all the biophysical properties (contact, mechanical and topographical properties) of the human finger 37 . The contact area could be correlated to the number of mechanoreceptors involved, and to static and active tactile perception.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The real contact area synthesizes all the biophysical properties (contact, mechanical and topographical properties) of the human finger 37 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Static and active tactile perception and touch anisotropy: aging and gender effect

Abdouni

Moreau

Vargiolu

et al. 2018

Sci Rep

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Although the human finger is the interface used for the touch process, very few studies have used its properties to provide a description of tactile perception regarding age and gender effects. Age and gender effects on the biophysical properties of the human finger were the main topics of our previous study. Correlating tactile perception with each parameter proved very complex. We expand on that work to assess the static and dynamic touch in addition to the touch gestures. We also investigate the age and gender effects on tactile perception by studying the finger size and the real contact area (static and dynamic) of forty human fingers of different ages and gender. The size of the finger and the real contact area (static and dynamic) define the density of the mechanoreceptors. This density is an image of the number of mechanoreceptors solicited and therefore of tactile perception (static and dynamic). In addition, the touch gestures used to perceive an object’s properties differ among people. Therefore, we seek to comprehend the tactile perception of different touch gestures due to the anisotropy of mechanical properties, and we study two different directions (top to bottom and left to right).

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Biophysical properties of the human finger for touch comprehension: influences of ageing and gender

Cited by 39 publications

References 43 publications

Biotribology of the ageing skin—Why we should care

Biotribology of the ageing skin—Why we should care

Emotion Measurements Through the Touch of Materials Surfaces

Static and active tactile perception and touch anisotropy: aging and gender effect

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