Effects of temperature on the subjective magnitude of vibration

Absolute magnitude estimation (AME) was used to determine the effects of skin temperature on the subjective magnitude of vibration delivered to the thenar eminence of the right hand. Measurements were made at three frequencies chosen to selectively activate cutaneous mechanoreceptor channels, namely NP I and NP III (Meissner and Merkel cell-neurite receptors, respectively) at 15 Hz, Pacinian (250 Hz, 400 Hz) and NP III (Ruffini endings) at 400 Hz. Skin temperatures at 15, 20 and 40 degrees C were tested at 11 suprathreshold displacement levels. It was concluded that the subjective magnitude of vibration is influenced by temperature in the Pacinian channel, but in the NP I and NP III channels the temperature of the skin did not have an effect upon judgements of subjective magnitude. This is consistent with earlier work by Verrillo and Bolanowski (J Acoust Soc Am 80: 528-532, 1986) and Bolanowski et al. (J Acoust Soc Am 84: 1680-1694, 1988); both studies show only modest effects of temperature at threshold at frequencies below approximately 40 Hz.