Effect of Changes in Finger Skin Temperature on Vibrotactile Perception Threshold

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to determine the influence of finger skin temperature on the vibrotactile perception threshold at fingertips, determined according to the method described in ISO 13091-1 standard. Materials and Methods: The effect of the cooling and warming of hands on vibration perception was investigated in 21 healthy women. Vibration perception measurements were conducted using P8 pallesthesiometer (EMSON-MAT, Poland) designed according to ISO 13091-1 standard requirements. Vibrotactile perception threshold was measured in two series of experiments performed on the index finger of the right hand at frequencies of 4 Hz, 25 Hz and 125 Hz and skin temperature of 33°C, 28°C, 23°C, 18°C and 15°C. Results: The findings of the study showed that as the finger skin temperature decreased, the vibrotactile perception threshold increased, but only at the frequency of 125 Hz. The changes in finger skin temperature did not affect the vibration perception at 4 Hz and 25 Hz. No significant differences in VPT were found between the two experimental series. Conclusions: A short-time cooling and warming of hands had a significant impact on increasing or decreasing vibrotactile perception threshold, only at the highest frequency mediated by Pacinian mechanoreceptors.

Cooling reduces the cutaneous afferent firing response to vibratory stimuli in glabrous skin of the human foot sole

“…This phenomenon might lead to the results observed in the present work if cooling influenced the terminal nerve branch within the receptor, resulting in increased refractory periods. Comparatively, this could explain the commonly observed increase in VPT at high vibration frequencies after skin cooling, found in psychophysical studies in humans (Gescheider et al 1997;Harazin and Harazin-Lechowska 2007;Verrillo and Bolanowski 2003). What our results suggest is that the perception of lower frequencies of vibration is preserved, not because SA I or SA II receptors are not influenced by cooling but rather because the lower frequencies are able to be coded by FA I or FA II receptors that have become less sensitive to vibration.…”

Effect of individual finger skin temperature on vibrotactile perception threshold

“…However, further hands warming to the temperatures higher than 33°C produce a slight (ca. 2-3 dB) but significant increase in VPT as compared to normal levels [14][15][16][17]. One can thus assume that a short-term overheating of hands may lead to the impaired perception of the vibration stimulus.…”

Encoded and Crossmodal Thermal Stimulation through a Fingertip-Sized Haptic Display

“…This paucity is especially surprising for the case of skin temperature and tactile perception. Indeed, several studies highlighted the effect of skin temperature on the sensitivity of most mechanoreceptors, as reflected by changes in their activation threshold (Bolanowski and Verrillo, 1982;Verrillo and Bolanowski, 1986;Kunesch et al, 1987;Harazin and Harazin-Lechowska, 2007;Lowrey et al, 2013). This effect of temperature on mechanoreceptors has been shown to have a direct influence on tactile acuity (Stevens, 1982), the perception of roughness (Green et al, 1979), or two-point discrimination thresholds (Stevens, 1989).…”

“…Several electrophysiological studies speak against a role of SAII and FAII in the coding of pressure distribution on the fingertip (Bolanowski and Verrillo, 1982;Kunesch et al, 1987;Harazin and Harazin-Lechowska, 2007), which -as mentioned above -has been argued to be the crucial component accounting for stiffness detection. Thus, the involvement of both receptors in this study is unlikely.…”