Coding of vibrotactile stimulus frequency by Pacinian corpuscle afferents Article

Horch, K. (1991). Coding of vibrotactile stimulus frequency by Pacinian corpuscle afferents . JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA, 89(6), 2827-2836. 10.1121/1.400688

cited authors

  • Horch, K

authors

abstract

  • Psychophysical and electrophysiological techniques were used to study the encoding and processing of information about the frequency content of vibrational stimuli applied to glabrous skin in humans and cats. Trained human subjects were asked to discriminate changes in stimulus frequency and harmonic content for pairs of mono and diharmonic sinusoidal vibrations applied to the fingertips. These psychophysical tests supplied data on what information is available to the central nervous system about the frequency components of vibratory stimuli. Electrophysiological recordings from nerves innervating the glabrous skin of the paw in cats during presentation of the same stimuli used in the psychophysical study provided data on how the peripheral nervous system encodes information about the physical parameters of cutaneous vibratory stimuli. The two sets of data indicated that the subjects derived information about the frequency of vibrotactile stimuli from the mean interval between action potentials in afferent nerve fibers activated by the stimulus. © 1991, Acoustical Society of America. All rights reserved.

publication date

  • January 1, 1991

published in

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

start page

  • 2827

end page

  • 2836

volume

  • 89

issue

  • 6