{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]],"date-time":"2026-08-24T10:26:43Z","timestamp":1787567203103,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,11]],"date-time":"2026-06-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781136000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,11]],"date-time":"2026-06-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781136000000},"content-version":"am","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,11]],"date-time":"2026-06-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781136000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Cancer Institute","award":["R21CA226726"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R21CA226726"]}]},{"award":["R21CA226726"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R21CA226726"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02t771148","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"National Cancer Institute","award":["R01CA281301"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01CA281301"]}]},{"award":["R01CA281301"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01CA281301"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02t771148","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000065","name":"National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["NS122333"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NS122333"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000065","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["NS122333"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NS122333"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01s5ya894","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"University of Chicago Women's Board"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["elifesciences.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:p>Touch plays a key role in our perception of our body and shapes our interactions with the world, from the objects we manipulate to the people we touch. While the tactile sensibility of the hand has been extensively characterized, much less is known about touch on other parts of the body. Despite the important role of the breast in lactation, as well as in affective and sexual touch, relatively little is known about its sensory properties. To fill this gap, we investigated the ability of women to locate touches on the breast and compared it to that of the hand and back, body regions that span the range of tactile discriminative capabilities. First, we found that the tactile precision of the breast was even lower than that of the back, heretofore the paragon of poor precision. Second, precision was lower for breasts that had undergone greater expansion, consistent with the hypothesis that innervation capacity does not scale with body size. Third, touches to different regions of the nipple were largely indistinguishable, suggesting sparse innervation density. Fourth, localization errors were systematically biased toward the nipple.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.7554\/elife.105946","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,8]],"date-time":"2025-04-08T11:37:52Z","timestamp":1744112272000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.7554\/elife.105946","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Tactile localization of the breast, areola, and nipple"],"prefix":"10.7554","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Katie H","family":"Long","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/024mw5h28","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Committee on Computational Neuroscience, University of Chicago","place":["Chicago, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Emily E","family":"Fitzgerald","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/024mw5h28","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago","place":["Chicago, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Ev I","family":"Berger-Wolf","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/024mw5h28","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago","place":["Chicago, United States"]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/0217hb928","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Neuroscience, Middlebury College","place":["Middlebury, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Amani","family":"Fawaz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/024mw5h28","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago","place":["Chicago, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9054-6538","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Stacy T","family":"Lindau","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/024mw5h28","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Chicago","place":["Chicago, United States"]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/024mw5h28","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Medicine-Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, University of Chicago","place":["Chicago, United States"]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/024mw5h28","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Chicago","place":["Chicago, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4039-9135","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Sliman J","family":"Bensmaia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/024mw5h28","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Committee on Computational Neuroscience, University of Chicago","place":["Chicago, United States"]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/024mw5h28","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago","place":["Chicago, United States"]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/024mw5h28","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Neuroscience Institute, University of Chicago","place":["Chicago, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6806-3302","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Charles M","family":"Greenspon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/024mw5h28","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago","place":["Chicago, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"},{"role":"corresponding-author","vocabulary":"crossref"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"4374","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"bib1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1088\/1741-2552\/aac964","type":"journal-article","article-title":"High-density peripheral nerve cuffs restore natural sensation to individuals with lower-limb amputations","volume":"15","author":"Charkhkar","year":"2018","journal-title":"Journal of Neural Engineering"},{"key":"bib2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"970","DOI":"10.3758\/BF03194989","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Vibrotactile localization on the abdomen: Effects of place and space","volume":"66","author":"Cholewiak","year":"2004","journal-title":"Perception & Psychophysics"},{"key":"bib3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1229","DOI":"10.1152\/jn.00313.2020","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Tactile innervation densities across the whole body","volume":"124","author":"Corniani","year":"2020","journal-title":"Journal of Neurophysiology"},{"key":"bib4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1097\/00006534-197607000-00001","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Breast sensation before and after plastic surgery","volume":"58","author":"Courtiss","year":"1976","journal-title":"Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery"},{"key":"bib5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"29","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-8721.00054","type":"journal-article","article-title":"The two-point threshold: not a measure of tactile spatial resolution","volume":"9","author":"Craig","year":"2000","journal-title":"Current Directions in Psychological Science"},{"key":"bib6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"337","DOI":"10.3758\/BF03194474","type":"journal-article","article-title":"A comparison of tactile spatial sensitivity on the palm and fingerpad","volume":"63","author":"Craig","year":"2001","journal-title":"Perception & Psychophysics"},{"key":"bib7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7554\/eLife.70777","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Expansion and contraction of resource allocation in sensory bottlenecks","volume":"11","author":"Edmondson","year":"2022","journal-title":"eLife"},{"key":"bib8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"697","DOI":"10.1037\/xhp0000739","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Online sensory feedback during active search improves tactile localization","volume":"46","author":"Fuchs","year":"2020","journal-title":"Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance"},{"key":"bib9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1095","DOI":"10.3758\/BF03194759","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Relative roles of spatial and intensive cues in the discrimination of spatial tactile stimuli","volume":"64","author":"Gibson","year":"2002","journal-title":"Perception & Psychophysics"},{"key":"bib10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/scitranslmed.aaf5187","type":"journal-article","article-title":"The neural basis of perceived intensity in natural and artificial touch","volume":"8","author":"Graczyk","year":"2016","journal-title":"Science Translational Medicine"},{"key":"bib11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1101\/2025.08.11.25332271","type":"preprint","article-title":"Intracortical microstimulation in humans: a decade of safety and efficacy","volume-title":"medRxiv","author":"Greenspon","year":"2025"},{"key":"bib12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"935","DOI":"10.1038\/s41551-024-01299-z","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Evoking stable and precise tactile sensations via multi-electrode intracortical microstimulation of the somatosensory cortex","volume":"9","author":"Greenspon","year":"2025","journal-title":"Nature Biomedical Engineering"},{"key":"bib13","type":"software","article-title":"BreastAcuity","volume-title":"Software Heritage","author":"Greenspon","year":"2026","unstructured":"Greenspon CM. 2026. BreastAcuity. Software Heritage. swh:1:rev:49dadf418f6c2ca6e9774b9b2886765838d6a599. https:\/\/archive.softwareheritage.org\/swh:1:dir:8be2afffa8c15a153292d1001655459393e9d28c;origin=https:\/\/github.com\/sensorimotor-bionics\/BreastAcuity;visit=swh:1:snp:00b6b9fa309b9d122c4930bab46e544d101f9ed2;anchor=swh:1:rev:49dadf418f6c2ca6e9774b9b2886765838d6a599."},{"key":"bib14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.aanat.2019.151456","type":"journal-article","article-title":"The sensory innervation of the human nipple","volume":"229","author":"Guti\u00e9rrez-Villanueva","year":"2020","journal-title":"Annals of Anatomy = Anatomischer Anzeiger"},{"key":"bib15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1088\/1741-2552\/adc2d4","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Biomimetic stimulation patterns drive natural artificial touch percepts using intracortical microstimulation in humans","volume":"22","author":"Hobbs","year":"2025","journal-title":"Journal of Neural Engineering"},{"key":"bib16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"5","DOI":"10.1055\/s-0033-1343989","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Development of the human breast","volume":"27","author":"Javed","year":"2013","journal-title":"Seminars in Plastic Surgery"},{"key":"bib17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"283","DOI":"10.1113\/jphysiol.1979.sp012619","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Tactile sensibility in the human hand: relative and absolute densities of four types of mechanoreceptive units in glabrous skin","volume":"286","author":"Johansson","year":"1979","journal-title":"The Journal of Physiology"},{"key":"bib18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fnbot.2020.00024","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Using bionics to restore sensation to reconstructed breasts","volume":"14","author":"Lindau","year":"2020","journal-title":"Frontiers in Neurorobotics"},{"key":"bib19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1630","DOI":"10.1016\/j.bjps.2014.08.043","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Nipple\u2013areola complex cutaneous sensitivity: A systematic approach to classification and breast volume","volume":"67","author":"Longo","year":"2014","journal-title":"Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery"},{"key":"bib20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"241","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2021.11.005","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Distortion of mental body representations","volume":"26","author":"Longo","year":"2022","journal-title":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences"},{"key":"bib21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1194","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuropsychologia.2010.12.040","type":"journal-article","article-title":"A supramodal representation of the body surface","volume":"49","author":"Mancini","year":"2011","journal-title":"Neuropsychologia"},{"key":"bib22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"917","DOI":"10.1002\/ana.24179","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Whole-body mapping of spatial acuity for pain and touch","volume":"75","author":"Mancini","year":"2014","journal-title":"Annals of Neurology"},{"key":"bib23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"737","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuron.2014.05.001","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Discriminative and affective touch: sensing and feeling","volume":"82","author":"McGlone","year":"2014","journal-title":"Neuron"},{"key":"bib24","type":"web-resource","article-title":"Sensory Survey 3D: an open source utility for the annotation of projected fields for sensory neural interfaces","author":"Nielsen","year":"2026","unstructured":"Nielsen M, Emonds A, Iskarous M. 2026. Sensory Survey 3D: an open source utility for the annotation of projected fields for sensory neural interfaces. https:\/\/www.researchsquare.com\/article\/rs-9252777\/v1 [Accessed April 2, 2026]."},{"key":"bib25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"15756","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.3684-09.2009","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Diminutive digits discern delicate details: fingertip size and the sex difference in tactile spatial acuity","volume":"29","author":"Peters","year":"2009","journal-title":"The Journal of Neuroscience"},{"key":"bib26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"701","DOI":"10.1097\/00006534-199809030-00013","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Normal cutaneous sensibility of the breast","volume":"102","author":"Tairych","year":"1998","journal-title":"Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery"},{"key":"bib27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"302","DOI":"10.1080\/0014013042000327670","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Presenting directions with a vibrotactile torso display","volume":"48","author":"Van Erp","year":"2005","journal-title":"Ergonomics"},{"key":"bib28","volume-title":"De Pulsu, Resorptione, Auditu et Tactu: Annotationes Anatomicae et Physiologicae","author":"Weber","year":"1834","type":"book"},{"key":"bib29","first-page":"195","type":"book-chapter","article-title":"Intensive and extensive aspects of tactile sensitivity as a function of body part, sex and laterality","volume-title":"The Skin Senses","author":"Weinstein","year":"1968"},{"key":"bib30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"9345","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.0514-13.2013","type":"journal-article","article-title":"A physical constraint on perceptual learning: tactile spatial acuity improves with training to a limit set by finger size","volume":"33","author":"Wong","year":"2013","journal-title":"The Journal of Neuroscience"},{"key":"dataset1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.6084\/m9.figshare.27939606","type":"dataset","article-title":"The coarse mental map of the breast is anchored on the nipple","volume-title":"figshare","author":"Greenspon","year":"2025","unstructured":"Greenspon C. 2025. The coarse mental map of the breast is anchored on the nipple. figshare."}],"container-title":["eLife"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/cdn.elifesciences.org\/articles\/105946\/elife-105946-v1.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/cdn.elifesciences.org\/articles\/105946\/elife-105946-v1.xml","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/elifesciences.org\/articles\/105946","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]],"date-time":"2026-08-24T08:54:31Z","timestamp":1787561671000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/elifesciences.org\/articles\/105946"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,11]]},"references-count":31,"alternative-id":["10.7554\/eLife.105946"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.7554\/elife.105946","archive":["CLOCKSS"],"relation":{"has-preprint":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.1101\/2022.09.14.507974","asserted-by":"subject"}],"is-same-as":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.7554\/eLife.105946.4","asserted-by":"subject"}],"is-version-of":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.7554\/eLife.105946.1","asserted-by":"subject"},{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.7554\/eLife.105946.2","asserted-by":"subject"},{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.7554\/eLife.105946.3","asserted-by":"subject"}],"is-supplemented-by":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.6084\/m9.figshare.27939606","asserted-by":"subject"},{"id-type":"uri","id":"https:\/\/archive.softwareheritage.org\/swh:1:dir:8be2afffa8c15a153292d1001655459393e9d28c;origin=https:\/\/github.com\/sensorimotor-bionics\/BreastAcuity;visit=swh:1:snp:00b6b9fa309b9d122c4930bab46e544d101f9ed2;anchor=swh:1:rev:49dadf418f6c2ca6e9774b9b2886765838d6a599","asserted-by":"subject"}]},"ISSN":["2050-084X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2050-084X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,11]]},"assertion":[{"value":"single anonymised","name":"peer_review_transparency","label":"Peer review transparency","group":{"name":"peer_review_taxonomy"}},{"value":"other reviewer(s), editor","name":"peer_review_interaction","label":"Peer review interaction","group":{"name":"peer_review_taxonomy"}},{"value":"review summaries, review reports, author\/editor communication, reviewer identities reviewer opt in, editor identities","name":"peer_review_published","label":"Peer review published","group":{"name":"peer_review_taxonomy"}},{"value":"open (sign in with ORCID iD required)","name":"post_publication_commenting","label":"Post publication commenting","group":{"name":"post_publication_commenting"}}],"article-number":"RP105946"}}