Touch and Temperature Senses

 

Charlie Drewes

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2005, Volume 26

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Abstract

This investigation focuses on the sensory biology of human touch and temperature reception. Students investigate quantitative and qualitative aspects of touch-sensory functions in human skin. Values for two-point discrimination are compared to Weber’s original data. In addition, novel materials and methods are introduced for investigating the functional organization of cold sensory reception in human skin, including: (a) estimation of sensory field size for single cold-sensory fibers, (b) demonstration of the discontinuous distribution of cold-sensory fibers in skin, and (c) estimation of the density of cold-sensitive fibers per unit area of skin. Tactile and thermoreceptor functions are related to underlying neuroanatomy of peripheral and central neural pathways.

Keywords:  mechanoreception, sensory physiology, sensory perception, sensory discrimination, thermoreceptors, sensory fields

Bowling Green State University, Ohio (2004)

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