Analogous cognitive strategies for tactile learning in the rodent and human brain

• Published in: Progress in neurobiology 2023-03, Vol.222, p.102401-102401, Article 102401
• Main Authors: Banerjee, Abhishek, Wang, Bin A., Teutsch, Jasper, Helmchen, Fritjof, Pleger, Burkhard
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Cognition; Human; Humans; Learning; Mice; Plasticity; Rodentia; Somatosensory Cortex; Tactile processing; Touch
• ISSN: 0301-0082; 1873-5118
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2023.102401

Evolution has molded individual species' sensory capacities and abilities. In rodents, who mostly inhabit dark tunnels and burrows, the whisker-based somatosensory system has developed as the dominant sensory modality, essential for environmental exploration and spatial navigation. In contrast, humans rely more on visual and auditory inputs when collecting information from their surrounding sensory space in everyday life. As a result of such species-specific differences in sensory dominance, cognitive relevance and capacities, the evidence for analogous sensory-cognitive mechanisms across species remains sparse. However, recent research in rodents and humans yielded surprisingly comparable processing rules for detecting tactile stimuli, integrating touch information into percepts, and goal-directed rule learning. Here, we review how the brain, across species, harnesses such processing rules to establish decision-making during tactile learning, following canonical circuits from the thalamus and the primary somatosensory cortex up to the frontal cortex. We discuss concordances between empirical and computational evidence from micro- and mesoscopic circuit studies in rodents to findings from macroscopic imaging in humans. Furthermore, we discuss the relevance and challenges for future cross-species research in addressing mutual context-dependent evaluation processes underpinning perceptual learning. •The somatosensory system is developed as one of the dominant sensory modalities in rodents and humans.•Despite species-specific differences in tactile processing, there are analogous sensory-cognitive mechanisms.•We review how the rodent and human brain harnesses mechanisms to establish decision-making during tactile learning.•We discuss concordances between empirical and computational evidence in rodents and in humans.•We highlight the relevance and challenges for future cross-species research on context-dependent perceptual learning.