Sensitivity to shifts of a point stimulus: An instance of tactile hyperacuity

Abstract

The sensitivity of the tactile sense to shifts in the position of a point stimulus was determined at four body loci: the index finger, forehead, belly, and back. Water-jet stimulation was used, a method which allows frictionless travel of a point stimulus over the skin. Three subjects were tested by means of the method of forced choice, with the task being to say whether the stimulus moved to the right or to the left. The shift threshold was defined as that shift excursion which gave rise to 75% correct responding. The basic finding was that shift thresholds were on the order of 10 to 30 times smaller than the corresponding two-point limens obtained by Weinstein (1968) for the same body loci. These unexpectedly small shift thresholds indicate an exquisite sensitivity of the cutaneous sense to rapid changes in position of a point stimulus. A physiological model is presented which accounts for the difference between localization and spatial resolution. nt]mis|This research was supported by Department of Health~ Education, and Welfare Grant 14-P-SS282/9 from the Social and Rehabilitation Services, NIH Research Grant R01-EY-00686 from the National Eye Institute, and the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Foundation. © 1978 Psychonomic Society, Inc.