Neuroscientist Luke Miller from the University of Lyon in France in the recent studies have proven that the human body has developed ability to supersensory. In particular, he showed that we can sense touch not only to your skin, but to react to the contacts of these items with other people.
The phenomenon that in various forms has long been known, the merit of the same Miller that he studied the flow of a process in the human brain. In the course of the 400 experiments, the subjects were holding wooden sticks and tried, without looking, to determine in what areas the technician touches the other stick to their sticks. Although the difference in points was only a few mm, the accuracy of the answers reached 96 %.
Data from the electroencephalogram showed amazing things – the brain of the subjects worked in a regular mode, it proceeded the same processes as in the touch to the skin. That is, the nervous system kind of made the wand an extension of yourself, its an additional sensor. Computer modeling has shown that the brain takes only 20 milliseconds to respond to vibrations that occurred in the stick in contact with another object.
Analyzing the results of the study, the team of Miller came to the conclusion that they were able to find some important evolutionary tool. People can use the items as a continuation of the senses, it is also adapted to hold and apply them so that it was easier to read the signals. Now scientists hope that their development will contribute to the development of prostheses. Thanks to them, artificial limbs will receive the functions of sensors and can transmit information about the environment and the living part of the body.
Source — Current Biology