Abstract
The thermal sense is diffuse and incapable of providing precise spatial information. From a phenomenon known as thermal referral, we know that touch influences the localization of cold or warmth, leading to our perceiving illusory thermal sensations at a thermally neutral site. This study investigated the frame of reference for localizing thermal sensations under thermal referral in order to shed light on how thermal and tactile modalities coordinate to process localization information. One thermally neutral tactile stimulator and two cold (warm) stimulators were presented to different sets of three fingers of both hands. The location of the neutral tactile stimulator varied, and the strength of the referral was estimated from participants’ performance in localizing the neutral tactile stimulator. By manipulating the somatotopic and spatiotopic distances between the stimulated sites, we found that the somatotopic distance—more specifically, the distance between and among the sites being defined in cortical topography—determines the strength of thermal referral. Our findings suggest that localization of thermal sensations under thermo-tactile interactions is processed with respect to the somatotopic frame of reference and that this cross-modal processing resides in early cortical areas whose organization conserves topographic information.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Augustine, J. R. (1996). Circuitry and functional aspects of the insular lobe in primates including humans. Brain Research Reviews, 22, 229–244.
Azañón, E., & Soto-Faraco, S. (2008). Changing reference frames during the encoding of tactile events. Current Biology, 18, 1044–1049. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2008.06.045
Bi, J. (2006). Sensory discrimination tests and measurements. Ames, IA: Blackwell.
Bowsher, D. (2005). Representation of somatosensory modalities in pathways ascending from the spinal anterolateral funiculus to the thalamus demonstrated by lesions in man. European Neurology, 54, 14–22. doi:10.1159/000086884
Cain, W. S. (1973). Spatial discrimination of cutaneous warmth. American Journal of Psychology, 86, 169–181.
Clark, C. R., & Geffen, G. M. (1990). Hemispheric equivalence for simultaneity judgments of somatosensory stimuli. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 7, 311–327.
Craig, A. D. (2002). How do you feel? Interoception: The sense of the physiological condition of the body. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3, 655–666. doi:10.1038/nrn894
Craig, A. D., Bushnell, M. C., Zhang, E.-T., & Blomqvist, A. (1994). A thalamic nucleus specific for pain and temperature sensation. Nature, 372, 770–773.
Craig, A. D., Chen, K., Bandy, D., & Reiman, E. M. (2000). Thermosensory activation of insular cortex. Nature Neuroscience, 3, 184–190. doi:10.1038/72131
Darian-Smith, I. (1984). Thermal sensibility. In I. Darian-Smith (Ed.), Handbook of physiology: The nervous system (pp. 879–913). Bethesda, MD: American Physiological Society.
Ennis, D. M. (1993). The power of sensory discrimination methods. Journal of Sensory Studies, 8, 353–370.
Green, B. G. (1977). Localization of thermal sensation: An illusion and synthetic heat. Perception & Psychophysics, 22, 331–337.
Green, B. G. (1978). Referred thermal sensations: Warmth versus cold. Sensory Processes, 2, 220–230.
Green, B. G. (2009). Temperature perception on the hand during static versus dynamic contact with a surface. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 71, 1185–1196. doi:10.3758/APP.71.5.1185
Greenspan, J. D., & Kenshalo, D. R. (1985). The primate as a model for the human temperature-sensing system: 2. Area of skin receiving thermal stimulation. Somatosensory Research, 2, 315–324.
Greenspan, J. D., Roy, E. A., Caldwell, P. A., & Farooq, N. S. (2003). Thermosensory intensity and affect throughout the perceptible range. Somatosensory & Motor Research, 20, 19–26. doi:10.1080/0899022031000083807
Haggard, P., Kitadono, K., Press, C., & Taylor-Clarke, M. (2006). The brain’s fingers and hands. Experimental Brain Research, 172, 94–102. doi:10.1007/s00221-005-0311-8
Han, Z. S., Zhang, E. T., & Craig, A. D. (1998). Nociceptive and thermoreceptive lamina I neurons are anatomically distinct. Nature Neuroscience, 1, 218–225.
Harris, J. A., Harris, I. M., & Diamond, M. E. (2001). The topography of tactile learning in humans. Journal of Neuroscience, 21, 1056–1061.
Hensel, H. (1981). Thermoreception and temperature regulation. New York: Academic Press.
Hensel, H. (1982). Thermal sensations and thermoreceptors in man. Springfield, IL: Thomas.
Hua, L. H., Strigo, I. A., Baxter, L. C., Johnson, S. C., & Craig, A. D. (2005). Anteroposterior somatotopy of innocuous cooling activation focus in human dorsal posterior insular cortex. American Journal of Physiology, 289, 319–325. doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00123.2005
Kenshalo, D. R. (1976). Correlations of temperature sensitivity in man and monkey, a first approximation. In Y. Zotterman (Ed.), Sensory functions of the skin with special reference to man (pp. 305–330). Oxford: Pergamon.
Kuroki, S., Watanabe, J., Kawakami, N., Tachi, S., & Nishida, S. (2010). Somatotopic dominance in tactile temporal processing. Experimental Brain Research, 203, 51–62.
Lee, D. K., McGillis, S. L. B., & Greenspan, J. D. (1996). Somatotopic localization of thermal stimuli: I. A comparison of withinversus across-dermatomal separation of innocuous thermal stimuli. Somatosensory & Motor Research, 13, 67–71.
Marks, L. E., & Stevens, J. C. (1973). Spatial summation of warmth: Influence of duration and configuration of the stimulus. American Journal of Psychology, 86, 251–267.
Mountcastle, V. B. (1961). Duality of function in the somatic afferent system. In M. A. B. Brazier (Ed.), Brain and behavior (pp. 67–93). Washington, DC: American Institute of Biological Science.
Mountcastle, V. B., & Powell, T. P. S. (1959). Neural mechanisms subserving cutaneous sensibility. Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, 105, 201–232.
Olausson, H., Lamarre, Y., Backlund, H., Morin, C., Wallin, B. G., Starck, G., et al. (2002). Unmyelinated tactile afferents signal touch and project to insular cortex. Nature Neuroscience, 5, 900–904. doi:910.1038/nn1896
O’Mahony, M. (1995). Who told you the triangle test was simple? Food Quality & Preference, 5, 227–238.
Rose, J. E., & Mountcastle, V. B. (1959). Touch and kinesthesis. In J. Field (Ed.), Handbook of physiology: Section 1. Neurophysiology (Vol. 1, pp. 387–429). Washington, DC: American Physiological Society.
Schoen, K. L., Marks, L. E., & Green, B. G. (2004). Temperature perception throughout the hand. Paper presented at the Society for Neuroscience Abstracts, Program No. 59.14, San Diego, CA.
Sherrick, C. E. (1968). Bilateral apparent haptic movement. Perception & Psychophysics, 4, 159–160.
Soto-Faraco, S., Ronald, A., & Spence, C. (2004). Tactile selective attention and body posture: Assessing the multisensory contributions of vision and proprioception. Perception & Psychophysics, 66, 1077–1094.
Spray, D. C. (1986). Cutaneous temperature receptors. Annual Review of Physiology, 48, 625–638.
Stevens, J. C., & Choo, K. C. (1998). Temperature sensitivity of the body surface over the life span. Somatosensory & Motor Research, 15, 13–28.
Stone, L. J. (1937). An experimental study of form perception in the thermal senses. Psychophysical Record, 1, 234–337.
Taus, R. H., Stevens, J. C., & Marks, L. E. (1975). Spatial localization of warmth. Perception & Psychophysics, 17, 194–196.
Wickens, T. D. (2002). Elementary signal detection. New York: Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ho, HN., Watanabe, J., Ando, H. et al. Somatotopic or spatiotopic? Frame of reference for localizing thermal sensations under thermo-tactile interactions. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 72, 1666–1675 (2010). https://doi.org/10.3758/APP.72.6.1666
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/APP.72.6.1666