The Effects of Aging on Information-Processing Channels in the Sense of Touch: II. Temporal Summation in the P Channel

Gescheider, George A.; Beiles, E. J.; Checkosky, Christine M.; Bolanowski, Stanley J.; Verrillo, Ronald T.

doi:10.3109/08990229409028879

Cited by 39 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Consistent with many previous studies, thresholds decreased as the size of the contactor increased (Verrillo 1963(Verrillo , 1966a(Verrillo , 1966bGescheider 1976;Gescheider et al 2002) and the duration of the stimulus increased (Verrillo 1965a;Gescheider 1976;Gescheider and Joelson 1983;Checkosky and Bolanowski 1992;Gescheider et al 1994aGescheider et al , 1994bGescheider et al , 1999Gescheider et al , 2002. The magnitude of the effects obtained in this study-a decrease in threshold of approximately 3.0 dB per doubling of contactor size and a decrease of 3.0-4.0 dB when stimulus duration was increased from 0.1 to 1.0 s-is entirely consistent with the results of our earlier studies.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 90%

Spatial summation in the tactile sensory system: Probability summation and neural integration

Gescheider

Güçlü

Sexton

et al. 2005

Somatosensory & Motor Research

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Psychophysical thresholds for the detection of a 300-Hz burst of vibration applied to the thenar eminence were measured for stimuli applied to the skin through 1.5 cm2 and through 0.05 cm2 contactors. Thresholds were approximately 13 dB lower when the area of the contactor was 1.5 cm2 than when it was 0.05 cm2. The difference between the thresholds measured with the large and small contactors was significantly reduced when only the lowest thresholds obtained in the testing sessions were considered. This result supports the hypothesis that one component of spatial summation in the P channel is probability summation. In addition, threshold measurements within a session were less variable when measured with the 1.5 cm2 contactor. We conclude that spatial summation in the P channel is a joint function of two processes that occur as the areal extent of the stimulus increases: probability summation in which the probability of exceeding the psychophysical detection threshold increases as the number of receptors of varying sensitivities increases, and neural integration in which neural activity originating from separate receptors is combined within the central nervous system rendering the channel more sensitive to the stimulus.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 90%

Spatial summation in the tactile sensory system: Probability summation and neural integration

Gescheider

Güçlü

Sexton

et al. 2005

Somatosensory & Motor Research

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“…Since quantitative sensory testing captures the overall function of the sensory neuroanatomical circuitry, age-related decline detected in our study could potentially arise from deterioration in multiple components of the sensory pathway, ranging from structural deformation and reduced density of sensory receptors to degraded information processing in the somatosensory cortex [23]. Studies investigating aging effects on spatial and temporal summation characteristics of the P channels that are mediated by Pacinian corpuscles and their corresponding nerve fibers suggest that the primary factor responsible for elevation in the detection thresholds of high frequency vibration in older subjects is a reduced afferent input to central nervous system (CNS) [12,13]. It has been also hypothesized that age-related reduction in receptor density, morphological modification of the surviving receptors, and possibly degeneration of corresponding peripheral nerve fibers may all contribute to the decline in tactile and proprioceptive sensitivity that is often observed in older persons [12,21,38].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physiological correlates of age-related decline in vibrotactile sensitivity

Deshpande

Metter

Ling

et al. 2008

Neurobiology of Aging

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The purpose of this study was to describe age-related changes in vibrotactile sensitivity in participants of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging and to identify factors that are associated with impairment in vibrotactile sensitivity independent of age. Participants (n=523, age:26-95 years) underwent measurements of vibration perception threshold (VPT, 100Hz) under the 2 nd metatarsal head, glucose tolerance, serum inflammatory markers, nerve conduction parameters, movement time and cognition. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were performed to identify factors that predicted VPT independent of age. Structural equation modeling was used to describe relationships between these variables. VPT was progressively higher with older age. Adjusting for age and height, VPT was similar in men and women and the slope of age-related decline was similar in the two genders. Age, height, peroneal nerve conduction velocity and peroneal nerve amplitude were independent predictors of VPT. Structural equation model demonstrated a direct relationship between peripheral nerve function and VPT. Height and circulating inflammatory markers may

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“…There are few studies of the effects of age and gender on difference thresholds, but according to Gescheider et al (1996a), relative difference thresholds for vibrotactile stimuli are independent of age other than at sensation levels only slightly above absolute threshold.…”

Section: Subjects and Posturesmentioning

confidence: 95%

Vibrotactile difference thresholds: Effects of vibration frequency, vibration magnitude, contact area, and body location

Forta

Griffin

Morioka

2012

Somatosensory & Motor Research

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It has not been established whether the smallest perceptible change in the intensity of vibrotactile stimuli depends on the somatosensory channel mediating the sensation. This study investigated intensity difference thresholds for vibration using contact conditions (different frequencies, magnitudes, contact areas, body locations) selected so that perception would be mediated by more than one psychophysical channel. It was hypothesized that difference thresholds mediated by the non-Pacinian I (NPI) channel and the Pacinian (P) channel would differ. Using two different contactors (1-mm diameter contactor with 1-mm gap to a fixed surround; 10-mm diameter contactor with 2-mm gap to the surround) vibration was applied to the thenar eminence and the volar forearm at two frequencies (10 and 125 Hz). The up-down-transformed-response method with a three-down-one-up rule provided absolute thresholds and also difference thresholds at various levels above the absolute thresholds of 12 subjects (i.e., sensation levels, SLs) selected to activate preferentially either single channels or multiple channels. Median difference thresholds varied from 0.20 (thenar eminence with 125-Hz vibration at 10 dB SL) to 0.58 (thenar eminence with 10-Hz vibration at 20 dB SL). Median difference thresholds tended to be lower for the P channel than the NPI channel. The NPII channel may have reduced difference thresholds with the smaller contactor at 125 Hz. It is concluded that there are large and systematic variations in difference thresholds associated with the frequency, the magnitude, the area of contact, and the location of contact with vibrotactile stimuli that cannot be explained without increased understanding of the perception of supra-threshold vibrotactile stimuli.

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The Effects of Aging on Information-Processing Channels in the Sense of Touch: II. Temporal Summation in the P Channel

Cited by 39 publications

References 23 publications

Spatial summation in the tactile sensory system: Probability summation and neural integration

Spatial summation in the tactile sensory system: Probability summation and neural integration

Physiological correlates of age-related decline in vibrotactile sensitivity

Vibrotactile difference thresholds: Effects of vibration frequency, vibration magnitude, contact area, and body location

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