Somatosensory & motor research
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Reference data on cold and warmth perception at three different body areas are provided based on 24 young (20-30 years) and 24 elderly (55-65 years) healthy women and men. Perception thresholds (method of limits), perceived intensity (free-number magnitude estimation), and perceived quality (verbal descriptors) were assessed for cold and for warmth at thenar, the upper arm, the knee, and the foot. Inter-individual comparison of perceived-intensity scales for cold and warmth was achieved by a Master Scaling procedure utilizing thenar as a reference area. ⋯ At the foot, both elderly women's and men's perceived intensity of cold and warmth was lowered, as compared to young women and men. Overall, the perceived quality of perceptions did not differ between groups. The present findings on age differences in perceived intensity of cold and warmth at the upper arm, knee and foot in healthy women and men provide reference data hitherto lacking for diagnostic work in patients with somatosensory dysfunctions and ongoing pain.
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"Synthetic heat", also known as the heat grill illusion, occurs when contact with spatially adjacent warm and cold stimuli produce a sensation of "heat". This phenomenon has been explained as a painful perception that occurs when warm stimulation inhibits cold-sensitive neurons in the spinothalamic tract (STT), which in turn unmasks activity in the pain pathway caused by stimulation of C-polymodal nociceptors (CPNs). The "unmasking model" was tested in experiment 1 by combining warm (35-40 degrees C) and cool (> or = 27 degrees C) stimuli that were too mild to stimulate CPNs. ⋯ Cooling by just 1 degrees C from a base temperature of 33 degrees C led to reports of heat on more than 1/3 of trials, and cooling by just 3 degrees C evoked heat on 75% of trials. Lowering the base temperature to 31 or 29 degrees C increased reports of heat and burning but did not produce significant reports of pain. Perception of nonpainful heat at such mild temperatures indicates either that cold-sensitive nociceptors with thresholds very similar to cold fibers innervate hairy skin in humans, or that heat can result from integration of warm fiber and cold fiber activity, perhaps via convergence on nonspecific (e.g., WDR) neurons in the STT.