Electrical Stimulation of Pain and Touch Systems

Abstract

To take best advantage of cutaneous channels for communication, information must be translated into a form compatible with perceptual properties of the touch sense. To find whether such channels are effective other than as providing mere warning information or slow transliteration of speech, one needs systematically to vary cutaneous stimuli along temporal and spatial dimensions to determine the resolving power of the nervous system for complex patterns of cutaneous stimuli. In contrast to vibration, direct electrical stimulation of the skin has several advantages, but the disadvantage that pain ordinarily accompanies electrical stimulation of hairy body regions. The purpose of this investigation was to determine conditions of painless electrical stimulation of touch, by defining the stimulus conditions which affect pain and touch thresholds.