Effects of aging on the suprathreshold responses to vibration

Abstract

The psychophysical responses to vibration of two age groups (22 or 25 and 66 years) were compared for two tasks using suprathreshold levels of vibrotactile stimulation. At a vibration frequency of 25 Hz, the two age groups gave similar curves of subjective magnitude determined by the method of absolute magnitude estimation. At 250 Hz, the curve of the older group showed no recruitment over low levels of intensity. Instead, their magnitude estimates were depressed over the entire range of intensities. Sensory persistence, measured by a matching procedure, was more marked in the older group.The effect of aging upon the absolute detection threshold for vibration has been reported in a number of publications (

The shape of the vibrotactile loudness function: The effect of stimulus repetition and skin-contactor coupling

“…It is notable that Verrillo (1982) reported that in a similar adlib condition, observers typically allowed themselves three presentations before making a judgment and going on to the next stimulus.…”

“…The exponent of the loudness function is nonnally reported to be about 0.9 for vibration delivered to the palm of the hand (e.g., Gescheider, 1976;Verrillo, 1974Verrillo, , 1982Verrillo & Capraro, 1975;Verrillo & Chamberlain, 1972;Verrillo, Fraioli, & Smith, 1969).1 However, this represents only the rate of growth for higher stimulus intensities. It has been generally accepted that the fonn of the function for sinusoidal loudness on the palm changes slope with increasing intensity in the range of 15-25 dB SL (e.g., Marks, 1979;Verrillo et al, 1969).…”

“…For example, Collins and Cholewiak (l989a, 1989b) used a method in which observers based their judgments on only a single presentation of the stimulus. Other researchers, on the other hand, often repeat the stimulus until the observer makes a response (Verrillo, 1982; R. T. Verrillo & S. J. Bolanowski, personal communication, May 24, 1989).…”

Vibrotactile localization on the arm: Effects of place, space, and age

“…However, as with the other sensory modalities, touch also deteriorates over time. Reviews of the changes that occur in the skin with aging have pointed out substantial losses in sensitivity to touch or vibratory stimuli, particularly after the age of 20, just as occurs with vision and audition (e.g., Kenshalo, 1979Kenshalo, , 1986Stevens, 1992;Verrillo, 1979Verrillo, , 1980Verrillo, , 1982Verrillo, , 1993. Typically these studies have been concerned with measuring pressure or vibrotactile thresholds (e.g., Frisina & Gescheider, 1977;Pearson, 1928;Verrillo, 1980;Whanger & Wang, 1974), although tactile discrimination has also been studied.…”

Aging and perception of visual form from temporal structure.

“…and on tactile tasks involving dynamic stimulation (Verrillo, 1982). These ubiquitous changes in temporal processing with age may point to modifications in the strength or in the temporal precision of neural responses underlying the registration of time-varying stimulation.…”