Shared early processing of distinct tactile features

The extent to which spatial tactile properties share neural pathways remains unclear, yet it is the key to understanding how the brain constructs coherent object representations from distributed spatial inputs. One basic spatial property is the perceived tactile distance between two simultaneous touches on the skin. It exhibits adaptation aftereffects: when body areas are repeatedly touched at two points, subsequently presented smaller distances are perceived as smaller than on unadapted areas. We investigated whether tactile distance adaptation influences the perception of other spatial properties, macro-scale roughness and curvature, indicating shared neural mechanisms. In experiment 1, adapting the skin to a fixed tactile distance reduced perceived roughness of subsequent gratings with smaller groove widths, as assessed through passive touch at the finger pad. This aftereffect likely originates from early cortical processing, as it is orientation-specific and independent of peripheral receptor desensitization. Experiment 2 demonstrated that curvature perception increases after adaptation to a two-point distance larger than the curve, suggesting overlap in processing pathways. Experiment 3 further supported early processing involvement, as the distance-to-roughness aftereffect did not transfer to adjacent skin regions of the same finger. Experiment 4 revealed bidirectional aftereffects: roughness adaptation also influenced distance perception. However, within-property aftereffects were stronger than cross-property effects. By revealing the existence of cross-property adaptation aftereffects with low-level characteristics, our findings provide evidence that tactile distance, roughness, and curvature share early somatosensory processing. This suggests that spatially defined properties undergo a common initial processing stage, sharing initial steps rather than existing in a hierarchical processing arrangement.