The development of adaptation aftereffects in the vibrotactile domain.

Abstract

Sensory adaptation is a feature-specific modulation of neural responses and is potentially fundamental to maximizing perceptual sensitivity. Despite its function being unclear, it has been hypothesized that sensory adaptation modifies the neurons' response codes, increasing the ability to process sensory signals on a larger scale. To better understand how such flexibility of our brain is possible, we investigated the effect of high-and lowfrequency vibrotactile adaptation on perceived tactile temporal frequency during childhood, a time known for the brain to experience varying levels of plasticity. We tested tactile temporal frequency discrimination thresholds in both children and adults before and after tactile adaptation. Our results demonstrate that sensory adaptation does not consistently change perceived tactile temporal frequency in younger children as it does in adults, as adult-like trends begin to emerge at around 8 years of age but consolidate only in 10-year-old children. The absence of adaptation aftereffects suggests that, under certain conditions, sensory history does not affect perception in younger children in a similar way to adults. Surprisingly, younger children proved to be less flexible in modulating neural responses after prolonged exposure to an adapting stimulus, a tendency conflicting with the high plasticity levels the brain experiences during the early stages of life.

Perceptual Biases as the Side Effect of a Multisensory Adaptive System: Insights from Verticality and Self-Motion Perception

“…Thus, an approach that combines the investigation of multisensory integration across development and the role of one dominant sensory modality has received less attention in the context of vestibular research. Along these lines, intrinsic biases (e.g., heading biases) and biases resulting from the adaptation to contextual stimulation (e.g., aftereffects) have mostly focused on adult and healthy participants with few exceptions, e.g., [90]. The investigation of such perceptual phenomena in the context of development and sensory loss may instead increase the understanding of how the brain processes and integrates vestibular inputs in relationship to changes in the environmental properties.…”

Positive or negative environmental modulations on human brain development: the morpho-functional outcomes of music training or stress

“…Human movement develops through the progressive control of tools use, which requires a complex dynamic between body size representation and sensory inputs, so that only in late puberty the body representation acquires adult features and may rely on proprioception instead of visual perception (Martel et al, 2021). Of note, children do not adapt as adults to tactile stimuli, until 8-10 years of age, suggesting a different sensory experience in addition to a different stimulus processing (Domenici et al, 2022).…”

Tactile Adaptation to Orientation Produces a Robust Tilt Aftereffect and Exhibits Crossmodal Transfer When Tested in Vision

“…Thus, while there is a considerable accumulation of evidence documenting visual-tactile interactions for orientation tasks, it is not clear at which cortical stage these interactions occur. Adaptation and aftereffects are often used in the exploration of underlying neural mechanisms across various modalities, providing insights into phenomena such as crossmodal interaction [25][26][27][28] . In vision, orientation is often studied using the tilt aftereffect (TAE).…”