SPATIAL PROPERTIES OF CUTANEOUS TEMPERATURE SENSITIVITY

描述(改编自申请人的摘要)最近的PI 发现皮肤的某些区域对 温暖。这些令人惊讶的大(5平方厘米)、对温暖不敏感的领域 (WIF)对低于41摄氏度的供暖无动于衷，这与这种观点相矛盾 在皮肤上到处都能感觉到宏观的温暖刺激 这意味着低阈值温暖纤维的皮肤神经支配可以 非常稀疏和不规则。PI声明，发现 WIFs说明了重新分析空间分布的必要性 使用现代心理物理测量方法测量温暖敏感度 和温度控制。因此，他的项目的第一个目标是 不同人体部位温敏地形图的研究 以及个人之间的差异，并确定空间上的差异 温暖的密度和分布可能有助于区域和 对宏观刺激知觉的个体差异。第二 这个项目的目标是调查气候变暖的程度 地形可能会随着时间的推移而变化。早期的点状热图 敏感性在本质上是可变的，初步数据表明 在几周或几个月的时间里，敏感度可能会在 之前确定的WIF。他的项目的第三个目标是 WIF为研究热学提供的非凡机会的优势 伤害感和冷觉直接，独立于传入 活动在温暖感上。PI提出的实验将使用 WIF调查这两个系统的基本心理物理特性 并解决长期存在的关于可能的贡献的问题 低门槛温暖系统对寒冷、炎热和 热痛。总体而言，拟议的研究应该会产生新颖的结果 有可能改变当前思维的心理物理数据 关于人类的空间组织和功能特征 热敏感度。此外，对区域和个人的研究 温暖地形的差异和温暖贡献的差异 系统对热痛和热痛将提供必要的信息 热敏感度在临床评估中的使用和解释 周围神经病的症状。

DESCRIPTION (adapted from the applicant's abstract) The PI recently discovered that areas of skin can be found that lack sensitivity to warmth. These surprisingly large (5 sq.cm.), warmth-insensitive fields (WIFs), which are indifferent to heating below 41C, contradict the view that macroscopic warm stimuli can be sensed everywhere on the skin and imply that cutaneous innervation by low-threshold warm fibers can be remarkably sparse and irregular. The PI states that the discovery of WIFs illustrates the need for a reanalysis of the spatial distribution of warmth sensitivity using modern methods of psychophysical measurement and temperature control. Accordingly, the first goal of his project is to study the topography of warmth sensitivity in different body regions and across individuals, and to determine how differences in the spatial density and distribution of warmth may contribute to regional and individual differences in perception of macroscopic stimuli. The second goal of this project is to investigate the extent to which warmth topography may change over time. Early maps of punctate thermal sensitivity were inherently variable, and preliminary data suggest that over periods of weeks or months, sensitivity can develop within previously identified WIFs. The third goal of his project is to take advantage of the extraordinary opportunities WIFs provide to study heat nociception and cold perception directly, independent of afferent activity in the warmth sense. The PI proposes experiments that will use WIFs to investigate basic psychophysical properties of these two systems and to address long-standing questions about the possible contribution of the low-threshold warmth system to the perception of cold, heat, and heat pain. Overall, the proposed studies should yield novel psychophysical data that have the potential to change current thinking about the spatial organization and functional characteristics of human thermal sensitivity. In addition, studies of regional and individual differences in warmth topography and of the contribution of the warmth system to heat and heat pain will provide information essential to the use and interpretation of thermal sensitivity in clinical assessments of peripheral neuropathy.