Differences in the sensations of warmth on the anterior torso of normal and spinal-cord transected individuals

The threshold to warming was measured at 10 sites on the anterior torso between the umbilicus and the clavicle of normal and spinal-cord transected individuals. In normal individuals, thresholds were higher on the thorax than on the abdomen. Men had higher and more variable thresholds than women. Ma...

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Published inSomatosensory & motor research Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 218 - 230
Main Authors Dykes, Robert W., Saddiki-Traki, Fatima, Tremblay, Nicole, Boureau, François, Morel-Fatio, X.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Informa UK Ltd 2002
Taylor & Francis
Subjects
Adult
Cutaneous Sensation
Female
Hot Temperature
Humans
Magnitude Estimation
Male
Middle Aged
Psychophysics
Reference Values
Sensation
Sensory Thresholds
Spinal Cord Injuries - physiopathology
Spinal-CORD Injury
Thermosensing
Warm Sensations
Warm Threshold
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Summary:The threshold to warming was measured at 10 sites on the anterior torso between the umbilicus and the clavicle of normal and spinal-cord transected individuals. In normal individuals, thresholds were higher on the thorax than on the abdomen. Men had higher and more variable thresholds than women. Magnitude estimations of supra-threshold stimuli showed that men offer verbal estimates of warmth that are about half of the size of the estimates given by women to the same stimuli. The psychometric function shows that in women, the sensation of warmth grows more rapidly than in men after starting from a higher initial value. After spinal-cord injury, thresholds for detection of warming were elevated. This effect was most noticeable within 8 cm of the anesthetic zone, but farther away, thresholds were still elevated but uniform as a function of distance, being about 30% higher than in normal individuals. After spinal-cord injury, the psychometric functions show that small stimuli elicit relatively large sensations and that these sensations grow more slowly with increasing skin temperatures than for normal individuals. Thus, for small warm stimuli spinal-cord-injured patients (both men and women) have a response similar to normal women but the slope of the psychometric function is flat, being similar to the slope observed for normal men.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:0899-0220
1369-1651
DOI:10.1080/0899022021000009143