Some characteristics of tactile channels.
The four information-processing channels of glabrous skin have distinct tuning characteristics which appear to be determined in the periphery at the level of sensory receptors and their afferent nerve fibers. The four-channel model [J Acoust Soc Am 84 (1988) 1680] has been updated to include measurement over a wider frequency range of tuning of the P and NP I channels, psychophysically determined by forward-masking and adaptation tuning curve methods. In addition to differences in their tuning, the P and NP channels differ in the following ways: (1) the P channel, but not NP channels, has been found to be capable of temporal summation, which operates by neural integration; (2) the capacity for spatial summation is also an exclusive property of the P channel; (3) sensitivity declines with age at a greater rate in the P channel than in the NP channels; (4) the masking or adaptation of a channel has no effect on the sensitivity of the other channels, although the channels interact in the summation of the perceived magnitudes of stimuli presented to separate channels.
Gescheider
G A
GA
Hamilton College, Department of Psychology, Clinton, NY 13323, USA. ggeschi@hamilton.edu
Bolanowski
S J
SJ
Verrillo
R T
RT
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001307:Auditory Perception; D006801:Humans; D008465:Mechanoreceptors / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000502:physiology*; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology; D012867:Skin / Q000294:innervation; D013028:Space Perception; D013997:Time Factors; D013998:Time Perception; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology*; D014732:Vibration