title: Biological and bionic hands: natural neural coding and artificial perception.
abstract: The first decade and a half of the twenty-first century brought about two major innovations in neuroprosthetics: the development of anthropomorphic robotic limbs that replicate much of the function of a native human arm and the refinement of algorithms that decode intended movements from brain activity. However, skilled manipulation of objects requires somatosensory feedback, for which vision is a poor substitute. For upper-limb neuroprostheses to be clinically viable, they must therefore provide for the restoration of touch and proprioception. In this review, I discuss efforts to elicit meaningful tactile sensations through stimulation of neurons in somatosensory cortex. I focus on biomimetic approaches to sensory restoration, which leverage our current understanding about how information about grasped objects is encoded in the brain of intact individuals. I argue that not only can sensory neuroscience inform the development of sensory neuroprostheses, but also that the converse is true: stimulating the brain offers an exceptional opportunity to causally interrogate neural circuits and test hypotheses about natural neural coding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA sliman@uchicago.edu.
authors.forename: Sliman J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Bensmaia
mesh_terms: D001186:Artificial Limbs; D040761:Biomimetic Materials; D001701:Bionics; D056228:Feedback, Sensory / Q000502:physiology; D006225:Hand / Q000294:innervation* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D011434:Proprioception / Q000502:physiology; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D011782:Quadriplegia / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology
keywords: biomimicry; neuroprosthetics; proprioception; somatosensory cortex; touch