A potential brain zone perceiving a comfortable fabric pressure touch

Abstract

The present study was carried out with a new approach to evaluating the comfort of fabric contact pressure. Functional magnetic resonance imaging technology was conducted to monitor brain response when a comfortable fabric contact pressure, according to the subjective evaluation, was applied to the skin surface of the lower human chest. After a strict method of calibration with a family-wise error check analysis, the study we performed revealed the right secondary somatosensory cortex appeared prominently positively activated under a comfortable fabric pressure state. This suggested the secondary somatosensory cortex brain region, particularly the right secondary somatosensory cortex, was probably the characteristic brain region for fabric comfort perception. A reasonable explanation was that proper contact pressure facilitated the serial information flow from the primary somatosensory cortex to the secondary somatosensory cortex, and comfortable touch stimulated the firing of A-beta afferent nerves.