title: Effects of stimulus frequency and duration on somatosensory discrimination responses.
abstract: Somatosensory processing of duration and frequency changes was investigated using event-related potentials to vibrotactile stimuli. Intermittent vibration to the fingertips of either hand was presented using a two-stimulus odd-ball paradigm (deviant P = 0.10). One group (N = 12, 18-38 years) was presented with stimulus pairs of 20/70, 50/150 and 170/250 ms. A second group (N = 10, 19-34 years) was tested using frequency pairs of 200/70 Hz. A psychophysical study examined the subjects' ability to discriminate between different stimulus pairs. A clear negative shift in the response to the deviant stimulus was recorded with all the stimulus conditions used in both experiments. Both frequency changes and duration increments/decrements revealed an initial negativity in the subtraction waveform with a mean onset of 90-170 ms and a following positivity, both of which were dependent on the duration of the stimulus used. A significant decrease in the amplitude of both components was observed with the 170/250 ms pairing, coinciding with a positive correlation between individual discrimination performance and amplitude. These results support the existence of a somatosensory mismatch response with features similar to those of the aMMN and highlight the relevance of the somatosensory-specific positivity. Results from the duration experiment also resolve some of the discrepancies between previous studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, UK. l.spackman@ich.ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Spackman
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Boyd
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Towell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014732:Vibration