Publications

See also Hannes’ Google Scholar page.

Highlights

Modelling foot sole cutaneous afferents: FootSim

Katic N, Siqueira RK, Cleland LD, Strzalkowski N, Bent L, Raspopovic S, Saal HP

We developed a Python simulator that recreates realistic neural responses from tactile afferents terminating in the sole of the foot.

iScience, 26(1), 105874 (2023)

Download the Python package from Github or try it out online via myBinder.

Expansion and contraction of resource allocation in sensory bottlenecks

Edmondson LR, Jimenez Rodriguez A, Saal HP

We show that a simple efficient coding model predicts complex trade-offs in resource allocation for sensory inputs with heterogeneous receptor densities and activation levels. These results provide a theoretical framework that explains why some body regions are magnified in somatosensory cortex.

eLife 11, e70777 (2022)

Tactile innervation densities across the whole body

Corniani G, Saal HP

This paper contains estimates for innervation densities of low-threshold mechanoreceptive afferents across the whole body, based on evidence from microneurography, histology, and immunohistochemistry.

Journal of Neurophysiology 124(4), 1229-1240 (2020)

Check out the Supplementary Material for detailed calculations.

Recent publications

Pre-neuronal biomechanical filtering modulates and diversifies whole-hand tactile encoding
Tummala N, Reardon G, Dandu B, Shao Y, Saal HP, Visell Y
bioRxiv, 2023.11.10.565040 (2024)

Sub-surface deformation of individual fingerprint ridges during tactile interactions
Corniani G, Lee ZS, Carre MJ, Lewis R, Delhaye BP, Saal HP
eLife reviewed preprint, 13:RP93554 (2024)

Memory at your fingertips: how viscoelasticity affects tactile neuron signaling
Saal HP, Birznieks I, Johansson RS
eLife reviewed preprint, 12:RP89616 (2023)

Complexity of spatiotemporal plantar pressure patterns during everyday behaviours
Cleland LD, Rowland HM, MazzĂ  C, Saal HP
Journal of the Royal Society Interface 20(203), 20230052 (2023)

Modelling novelty detection in the thalamocortical loop
Han C, English G, Saal HP, Indiveri G, Gilra A, von der Behrens W, Vasilaki E
PLOS Computational Biology 19(5), e1009616 (2023)

Similar somatotopy for active and passive digit representation in primary somatosensory cortex
Sanders Z, Dempsey-Jones H, Wesselink DB, Edmondson LR, Puckett AM, Saal HP, Makin TR
Human Brain Mapping 44(9):3568-3585 (2023)

Modelling foot sole cutaneous afferents: FootSim
Katic N, Siqueira RK, Cleland LD, Strzalkowski N, Bent L, Raspopovic S, Saal HP
iScience, 26(1), 105874 (2023)

Population coding strategies in human tactile afferents
Corniani G, Casal MA, Panzeri S, Saal HP
PLOS Computational Biology 18(12), e1010763 (2022)

Expansion and contraction of resource allocation in sensory bottlenecks
Edmondson LR, Jimenez Rodriguez A, Saal HP
eLife 11, e70777 (2022)

Getting a grasp on BMIs: Decoding prehension and speech signals
Edmondson LR, Saal HP
Neuron 110(11), 1743-1745 (2022) [Preview for Wandelt et al. 2022]

Malleability of the cortical hand map following a finger nerve block
Wesselink DB, Sanders Z, Edmondson LR, Dempsey-Jones H, Kieliba P, Kikkert S, Themistocleous AC, Emir U, Diedrichsen J, Saal HP, Makin TR
Science Advances 8(16), eabk2393 (2022)

Tactile innervation densities across the whole body
Corniani G, Saal HP
Journal of Neurophysiology 124(4), 1229-1240 (2020)

Nonlinear scaling of resource allocation in sensory bottlenecks
Edmondson LR, Jimenez Rodriguez A, Saal HP
Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) 2019

The effect of contact force on the responses of tactile nerve fibers to scanned textures
Saal HP, Suresh AK, Solorzano LE, Weber AI, Bensmaia SJ
Neuroscience 389, 99-103 (2018)

Speed invariance of tactile texture perception
Boundy-Singer ZM, Saal HP, Bensmaia SJ
Journal of Neurophysiology 118(4), 2371-2377 (2017)

Simulating tactile signals from the whole hand with millisecond precision
Saal HP, Delhaye BP, Rayhaun BC, Bensmaia SJ
PNAS 114(28), 5693-5702 (2017)

Publications prior to 2016

Edge orientation signals in tactile afferents of macaques
Suresh AK, Saal HP, Bensmaia SJ
Journal of Neurophysiology 166(6), 2647-2655 (2016)

Key considerations in designing a somatosensory neuroprosthesis
Delhaye BP, Saal HP, Bensmaia SJ
Journal of Physiology-Paris 110(4), 402-408 (2016)

The neural basis of perceived intensity in natural and artificial touch
Graczyk EL, Schiefer MA, Saal HP, Delhaye BP, Bensmaia SJ, Tyler DJ
Science translational medicine 8 (362), 362ra142 (2016)

Importance of spike timing in touch: an analogy with hearing?
Saal HP, Wang X, Bensmaia SJ
Current opinion in neurobiology 40, 142-149 (2016)

Rate and timing of cortical responses driven by separate sensory channels
Saal HP, Harvey MA, Bensmaia SJ
eLife 4, e10450 (2015)

Biomimetic approaches to bionic touch through a peripheral nerve interface
Saal HP, Bensmaia SJ
Neuropsychologia 79, 344-353 (2015)

Kinematics of unconstrained tactile texture exploration
T Callier, HP Saal, EC Davis-Berg, SJ Bensmaia
Journal of neurophysiology 113(7), 3013-3020 (2015)

Touch is a team effort: interplay of submodalities in cutaneous sensibility
Saal HP, Bensmaia SJ
Trends in neurosciences 37 (12), 689-697 (2014)

Natural scenes in tactile texture
Manfredi LR, Saal HP, Brown KJ, Zielinski MC, Dammann JF, Polashock VS, Bensmaia SJ
Journal of neurophysiology 111(9), 1792-1802 (2014)

Spatial and temporal codes mediate the tactile perception of natural textures
Weber AI, Saal HP, Lieber JD, Cheng J, Manfredi LR, Dammann JF, Bensmaia SJ
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110(42), 17107-17112 (2013)

Multiplexing stimulus information through rate and temporal codes in primate somatosensory cortex
Harvey MA, Saal HP, Dammann JF, Bensmaia SJ
PLoS biology 11(5), e1001558 (2013)

Millisecond Precision Spike Timing Shapes Tactile Perception
Mackevicius EL, Best MD, Saal HP, Bensmaia SJ
Journal of Neuroscience 32 (44), 15309-15317 (2012)

Information about complex fingertip parameters in individual human tactile afferent neurons
Saal HP, Vijayakumar S, Johansson RS
Journal of Neuroscience 29 (25), 8022-8031 (2009)