Vibrotactile adaptation enhances spatial localization

Tannan, Vinay; Whitsel, B. L.; Tommerdahl, Mark

doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2006.05.037

Cited by 50 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…In a recent paper in this Journal (Tannan et al, 2006), we reported that in healthy adult subjects spatial localization of a 25 Hz flutter stimulus on the skin of the hand improves substantially following adaptation. In that study we delivered an adapting stimulus (0.5 or 5 sec) to a Please address correspondence to: Mark Tommerdahl, Ph.D., Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, Email address: Mark_Tommerdahl@med.unc.edu Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…In the experiments described in this report, a paradigm identical to that employed previously by Tannan et al (2006) was used to study adults with autism. The results demonstrate that although cutaneous localization performance of adults with autism is significantly better than the performance of control subjects when the period of adapting stimulation is short (i.e., 0.5 sec), tactile spatial discriminative capacity remained unaltered in the same subjects when the duration of adapting stimulation was increased (to 5 sec).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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AbstractA recent study (Tannan et al, 2006) showed that pre-exposure of a skin region to a 5 sec 25 Hz flutter stimulus ("adaptation") results in an approximately 2-fold improvement in the ability of neurologically healthy human adults to localize mechanical stimulation delivered to the same skin region that received the adapting stimulation. Tannan et al (Tannan et al, 2006) proposed that tactile spatial discriminative performance is improved following adaptation because adaptation is accompanied by an increase in the spatial contrast in the response of contralateral primary somatosensory cortex (SI) to mechanical skin stimulation -an effect identified in previous imaging studies of SI cortex in anesthetized non-human primates (e.g., Simons et al, 2005;Tommerdahl et al, 2002;Whitsel et al, 1989).

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

“…Tannan et al (Tannan et al, 2006) proposed that tactile spatial discriminative performance is improved following adaptation because adaptation is accompanied by an increase in the spatial contrast in the response of contralateral primary somatosensory cortex (SI) to mechanical skin stimulation -an effect identified in previous imaging studies of SI cortex in anesthetized non-human primates (e.g., Simons et al, 2005;Tommerdahl et al, 2002;Whitsel et al, 1989). In the experiments described in this report, a paradigm identical to that employed previously by Tannan et al (2006) was used to study adults with autism. The results demonstrate that although cutaneous localization performance of adults with autism is significantly better than the performance of control subjects when the period of adapting stimulation is short (i.e., 0.5 sec), tactile spatial discriminative capacity remained unaltered in the same subjects when the duration of adapting stimulation was increased (to 5 sec).…”

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Vibrotactile adaptation fails to enhance spatial localization in adults with autism

et al. 2007

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A recent study (Tannan et al., 2006) showed that pre-exposure of a skin region to a 5 sec 25 Hz flutter stimulus ("adaptation") results in an approximately 2-fold improvement in the ability of neurologically healthy human adults to localize mechanical stimulation delivered to the same skin region that received the adapting stimulation. Tannan et al. (Tannan et al., 2006) proposed that tactile spatial discriminative performance is improved following adaptation because adaptation is accompanied by an increase in the spatial contrast in the response of contralateral primary somatosensory cortex (SI) to mechanical skin stimulation -an effect identified in previous imaging studies of SI cortex in anesthetized non-human primates (e.g., Simons et al., 2005;Tommerdahl et al., 2002;Whitsel et al., 1989).In the experiments described in this report, a paradigm identical to that employed previously by Tannan et al. (2006) was used to study adults with autism. The results demonstrate that although cutaneous localization performance of adults with autism is significantly better than the performance of control subjects when the period of adapting stimulation is short (i.e., 0.5 sec), tactile spatial discriminative capacity remained unaltered in the same subjects when the duration of adapting stimulation was increased (to 5 sec). Both the failure of prior history of tactile stimulation to alter tactile spatial localization in adults with autism, and the better-than-normal tactile localization performance of adults with autism when the period of adaptation is short are concluded to be attributable to the deficient cerebral cortical GABAergic inhibitory neurotransmission characteristic of this disorder.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Vibrotactile adaptation fails to enhance spatial localization in adults with autism

et al. 2007

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Perceptual metrics of individuals with autism provide evidence for disinhibition

et al. 2008

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Adults with autism exhibit inhibitory deficits that are often manifested in behavioral modifications, such as repetitive behaviors, and/or sensory hyper-responsiveness. If such behaviors are the result of a generalized deficiency in inhibitory neurotransmission, then it stands to reason that deficits involving localized cortical-cortical interactions – such as in sensory discrimination tasks – could be detected and quantified. This study exemplifies a newly developed method for quantifying sensory testing metrics. Our novel sensory discrimination tests may provide (a) an effective means for biobehavioral assessment of deficits specific to autism and (b) an efficient and sensitive measure of change following treatment. The sensory discriminative capacity of 10 subjects with autism and 10 controls was compared both before and after short duration adapting stimuli. Specifically, vibrotactile amplitude discriminative capacity was obtained both in the presence and absence of 1 sec adapting stimuli that were delivered 1 sec prior to the comparison stimuli. Although adaptation had a pronounced effect on the amplitude discriminative capacity of the control subjects, little or no impact was observed on the sensory discriminative capacity of the subjects with autism. This lack of impact of the adapting stimuli on the responses of the subjects with autism was interpreted to be consistent with the reduced GABAergic mediated inhibition described in previous reports. One significant aspect of this study is that the methods could prove to be a useful and efficient way to detect specific neural deficits and monitor the efficacy of pharmacological or behavioral treatments in autism.

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