Mechanisms Underlying Referral of Thermal Sensations to Sites of Tactile Stimulation
Mechanisms Underlying Referral of Thermal Sensations to Sites of Tactile Stimulation
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DOI：
10.1523/jneurosci.2640-10.2011
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发表时间：
2011-01-05
影响因子：
5.3
通讯作者：
Kashino, Makio
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ho, Hsin-Ni;Watanabe, Junji;Kashino, Makio
当用一只手的中间三个手指同时触摸三个刺激器，但只有外部的两个刺激器被冷却或加热时，中央（中性）刺激器也被感知为冷或热。这种现象被称为热参考，并且它与填充具有现象学上的相似性，其中感兴趣的信号中的不连续性可以基于空间相邻的上下文在感知上得到补偿。虽然填充的基本机制已经得到了很好的证实，那些基本的热转诊仍然知之甚少。在本研究中，我们研究了强度知觉的感觉所造成的热转介与人类参与者。我们发现三个手指之间的感觉是均匀的，但其表观强度总是低于施加到外侧两个手指的物理强度。这些结果表明，在热参考下感知到的热均匀性不是由大脑对施加到外两个手指的热变化进行内插而产生的，正如人们所期望的那样，这些热变化是由典型的填充引起的。相反，施加到外部两个指状物的热变化被求和并重新分配到接触的所有指状物。我们的研究结果表明，热介导的两个独立的过程。一种是从热刺激的物理强度和面积范围确定表观强度;另一种是从触觉刺激的表观部位确定所产生的感觉的定位。
When three stimulators are simultaneously touched with the middle three fingers of one hand but only the outer two stimulators are cooled or heated, the central (neutral) stimulator is also perceived to be cold or warm. This phenomenon is known as thermal referral and it shares phenomenological similarities with filling-in, in which the discontinuity in the signals of interest can be compensated perceptually on the basis of the spatially adjacent context. Although the mechanisms underlying filling-in have been well substantiated, those underlying thermal referral are still poorly understood. In the present study, we examined the intensity perception of the sensation resulting from thermal referral with human participants. We found that the sensation was uniform among the three fingers, but its apparent intensity was always lower than the physical intensity applied to the outer two fingers. These results indicate that the thermal uniformity perceived under thermal referral is not created by the brain's interpolating the thermal changes applied to the outer two fingers, as one would expect for those induced by typical filling-in. Instead, the thermal changes applied to the outer two fingers are summated and redistributed to all the fingers in contact. Our findings suggest that thermal referral is mediated by two separate processes. One determines the apparent intensity from the physical intensity and the areal extent of the thermal stimulation; the other determines the localization of the resulting sensation from the apparent sites of tactile stimulation.