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The sense of flutter-vibration evoked by stimulation of the hairy skin of primates: Comparison of human sensory capacity with the responses of mechanoreceptive afferents innervating the hairy skin of monkeys

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Summary

We have studied the response properties of peripheral myelinated fibers ending in the hairy skin of the Rhesus monkey, activated by sinusoidal mechanical stimulation. In parallel experiments we measured thresholds of the sensations evoked in man by identical stimuli, delivered under similar conditions to corresponding areas of the hairy skin. We found that the sense of low frequency vibration (i. e., flutter) depends upon activity in rapidly adapting alpha fibers which end in or about the hair follicles. High frequency vibration is signalled by Pacinian afferents whose terminals lie deep to the skin itself. These two sets of fibers, by reason of their discharge patterns and differential sensitivities in different frequency ranges, are thought to provide the essential first order input for the human sense of vibration evoked by stimulation of the hairy skin. Rapidly adapting cutaneous afferents of the delta size and two classes of slowly adapting alpha fibers are also entrained by mechanical sinusoids, but are thought not to contribute to vibratory sensibility. Our findings support the proposition that the sensitivity of humans to oscillatory mechanical stimuli at different frequencies, and the quality of the sensations evoked by them, are determined in the first instance by the properties of two distinct sets of peripheral afferent fibers.

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Author notes

  1. Thomas Harrington

    Present address: Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Michael M. Merzenich & Thomas Harrington

  2. Laboratory of Neurophysiology 283 Medical Sciences Building, University of Wisconsin, 53706, Madison, Wisc., USA

    Michael M. Merzenich

Authors
  1. Michael M. Merzenich
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  2. Thomas Harrington
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Additional information

Supported in part by training and research grants from the United States Public Health Service, No's 1-PO1-NB-06828, TO1-GM-00443, and 5-TO1-NB-0523.

The research described in this paper was submitted by Dr. Merzenich in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The Johns Hopkins University, June, 1968.

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Merzenich, M.M., Harrington, T. The sense of flutter-vibration evoked by stimulation of the hairy skin of primates: Comparison of human sensory capacity with the responses of mechanoreceptive afferents innervating the hairy skin of monkeys. Exp Brain Res 9, 236–260 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00234457

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