Ontogeny of two-point discrimination for fingers and toes in children (ages 7 through 15 years).
Accuracies of two-point discrimination (successive 2-min increments between 0 and 10 mm) for the middle fingers and the middle toes for 87 children from ages 7 through 15 years were measured to obtain normative data. The finer discriminative capacity for the fingers rather than the toes was evident. Whereas discriminative accuracy approached the asymptote with distances equal to or greater than 4 mm for the fingers, distances equal to or greater than 8 mm were required for the toes. For this ontogenetic range, the effects for toes vs fingers was much greater than the effect size for age.
Department of Psychology, Behavioral Neuroscience Program, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.
P M
PM
Richards
M A
MA
Persinger
R N
RN
Michel
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014034:Toes / Q000502:physiology*; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology*