Electromechanical stimulator for presenting moving cutaneous stimuli

Recent interest in the neural processing of complex cutaneous stimuli such as moving stimuli has necessitated more versatile stimulating devices. This article describes the construction and application of a relatively inexpensive instrument, utilizing equipment readily available in most neurophysiological laboratories, which provides a variety of moving cutaneous stimuli of selected velocities, excursions, and directions. The electronic portion of the instrument consists of a logically controlled varable rate integrator wired to conform to the electrical and mechanical characteristics of a Grass P5 plug-in. This circuitry operates the remainder of the instrument which consists of a P5 driver amplifier used to drive the pen motor mechanism that provides the moving cutaneous stimulus.