Information-Processing Channels in the Tactile Sensory System: A Psychophysical and Physiological Analysis

146 Pages·2008·1.864 MB·English

by  George A. Gescheider, John H. Wright, Ronald T. Verrillo

INFORMATION-PROCESSING
CHANNELS IN THE
TACTILE SENSORY SYSTEM
SCIENTIFIC PSYCHOLOGY SERIES
Edited by Stephen W. Link, University of California, San Diego
and James T. Townsend, Indiana University
Information-Processing Channels in the Tactile Sensory System by George A.
Gescheider, John H. Wright, and Ronald T. Verrillo
Unified Social Cognition by Norman H. Anderson
Introduction to the Theories of Measurement and Meaningfulness and the Use
of Symmetry in Science by Louis Narens
Measurement and Representation of Sensations edited by Hans Colonius and
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Psychophysics Beyond Sensation edited by Christian Kaernbach, Erich
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Theories of Meaningfulness by Louis Narens
Empirical Direction in Design and Analysis by Norman H. Anderson
Computational, Geometric, and Process Perspectives on Facial Cognition
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Utility of Gains and Losses by R. Duncan Luce
Toward a New Behaviorism. The Case against Perceptual Reductionism by
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Recent Progress in Mathematical Psychology edited by Cornelia E. Dowling,
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Localist Connectionist Approaches to Human Cognition edited by Jonathan
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Adaptive Spatial Alignment by Gordon M. Redding and Benjamin Wallace
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Signal Detection Theory and ROC Analysis in Psychology and Diagnostics
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The Swimmer by William R. Uttal, Gary Bradshaw, Sriram Dayanand, Robb
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Multidimensional Models of Perception and Cognition by Gregory F. Ashby
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The Wave Theory of Difference and Similarity by Stephen W. Link
INFORMATION-PROCESSING
CHANNELS IN THE
TACTILE SENSORY SYSTEM
A Psychophysical and Physiological Analysis
George A. Gescheider
Syracuse University, Institute for Sensory Research
John H. Wright
Ronald T. Verrillo (Deceased)
Syracuse University, Institute for Sensory Research
Psychology Press
New York London
Psychology Press Psychology Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data
Gescheider, George A.
Information‑processing channels in the tactile sensory system : a psychophysical
and physiological analysis / George A. Gescheider, John H. Wright, Ronald T. Verrillo.
p. cm. ‑‑ (Scientific psychology series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978‑1‑84169‑896‑0 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Touch. I. Wright, John H., 1938‑ II. Verrillo, Ronald T. III. Title.
QP451.G47 2009
612.8’8‑‑dc22 2008043780
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ISBN 0-203-89000-0 Master e-book ISBN
Contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgments i x
1. CHaNNELS IN TOuCH 1
2. IdENTIFICaTION OF SPECIFIC NEuRaL SYSTEmS
RESPONSIbLE FOR mECHaNORECEPTION 5
Introduction 5
Duplex Model of Mechanoreception 7
Spatial and Temporal Summation in the P System 1 0
3. THE NEuRaL baSES OF THE TaCTILE SYSTEmS 15
Introduction 1 5
Anatomy of Tactile Receptors 15
Neurophysiology of Tactile Receptors and Their Nerve Fibers 1 7
Neural Bases of the P and NP Systems 1 8
Four Neural Systems Mediate the Detection of Vibratory Stimuli 2 2
Frequency Selectivity of a Neural System Is Determined by Its
Receptors 2 6
4. FROm NEuRaL SYSTEmS TO INFORmaTION-
PROCESSING CHaNNELS 27
Introduction 2 7
Sensation-Magnitude Enhancement Occurs Within but Not Across
Channels 2 7
Multichannel Model of Tactile Sensitivity 3 0
The Psychophysical Tuning Curve 3 3
v
vi Contents
Testing the Multichannel Model Through Experiments on
Adaptation and Masking 3 5
Adaptation Reveals the Existence of Tactile Channels 3 6
Masking Occurs Within but Not Across Channels 4 0
Testing the Multichannel Model Through Experiments on Sensory
Learning 4 5
5. PROPERTIES OF TaCTILE CHaNNELS 47
Introduction 4 7
The Frequency Selectivity of Channels 4 7
Temporal Summation and Temporal Acuity 5 1
Spatial Acuity 5 9
Edge Detection 6 3
Spatial Summation 6 8
Effects of Observer Characteristics 7 1
Effects of Aging on the Sensitivity of Tactile Channels 7 1
Effects of the Menstrual Cycle 7 2
6. THE FuNCTIONaL ROLES OF CHaNNELS 75
Channels Enhance the Detectability of Stimuli 75
Channels Enhance the Discriminability of Stimuli 7 6
The Functional Roles of the Individual Tactile Channels 7 7
The Decibel Scale 77
The Functional Role of the PC Channel 78
The Functional Role of the RA Channel 8 5
The Functional Role of the SA I Channel 8 5
The Functional Role of the SA II Channel 9 1
Specialization of Channels 9 2
7. CHaNNEL INTERaCTIONS 95
Introduction 9 5
Summation of Sensation Magnitude Across Channels 9 5
The Perception of Texture 100
Role of Attention in the Enhancement and Summation of
Sensation Magnitude 105
Interactions Between Tactile Channels and Other Somatosensory
Submodalities 106
8. CONCLuSIONS 109
References 113
Author Index 125
Subject Index 129
Preface
The purpose of this book is to address the question of whether information-
processing channels operate in the sense of touch. Channels are known to
operate in other sense modalities such as vision and audition. In these latter
two senses, the receptors are localized within sensory organs, namely the eyes
and ears. The function of the highly concentrated receptors in these senses is
to collect a vast amount of information about the external world. Furthermore,
the sensory processing of this information is facilitated by the existence of
channels that serve to isolate specific features of the external environment.
Information-processing channels, such as spatial frequency channels in vision
and critical bands in hearing, therefore greatly enhance both the detection of
and discriminability among external stimuli. In the tactile sensory system,
the receptors are not highly localized in specialized organs, as they are in the
visual and auditory systems, but instead are widely distributed throughout the
skin of the entire body. However, they are not distributed in a uniform manner.
In this respect, vision and audition are very different from touch. The funda-
mental question then is whether channels operate in the sense of touch as they
do in vision and audition. A compelling argument is presented that channels do
indeed operate in the highly sensitive glabrous skin of the hands and fingertips.
However, it is unknown whether channels exist in other types of skin such as
hairy skin and mucocutaneous skin.
Perhaps the earliest hint that channels operate in the sense of touch was
when Békésy reported in 1939 that different neural systems appear to under-
lie the detection of low- and high-frequency vibratory stimuli. Further evi-
dence for the existence of tactile channels emerged from work conducted at
the Institute for Sensory Research at Syracuse University over a period of sev-
eral decades. This work, in combination with the work of investigators in sev-
eral other laboratories, constitutes the foundation for this book, which clearly
shows that channels operate in the sense of touch and consequently play a
major role in tactile perception.
vii

Acknowledgments
Several individuals contributed to the ideas presented in this book. Although
Ronald Verrillo contributed directly, he died prior to the work’s completion.
Stanley Bolanowski was to have been a co-author but died before we began
working on it. We wish to acknowledge the contributions of Mark Hollins, who
read early versions of the book and provided many valuable suggestions and
much encouragement. His published work greatly facilitated the development
of many ideas expressed here. We thank our colleague Burak Güçlü for his
critical reading of this work. His insightful comments were invaluable. We also
thank the series editors, Stephen Link and James Townsend, for their advice
and encouragement and Lejanet Herrera for her editorial guidance throughout
the production process. Lastly, we wish to acknowledge the contributions of
Katheryne Gall, whose artwork made it possible to display complex ideas in an
easily understandable graphic format.
ix