Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Perception
11 Feb 03
Day 07
Skin, Pain, & Phantom Limbs
Primaries pressure, pain von Frey hairs
temperature warm & cold
Lateral inhibition
twopoint thresholds
receptive fields
centersurround organization
Skin & its innervation, cortical maps
Pain & its systems anecdotes
1. hormonal endorphins, enkephalins
morphine before & after injury
2. cognitive/cultural
couvade
3. neuronal
Gate Control Theory
Melzack
Primaries
Initial research on
touch sensitivies
pressure
pain (a lot of pressure)
Von Frey, the Von Frey hair,
and adaptations of it
warmth & cold
consistency,
and
difference
primaries & secondaries:
blends
hot warm & cold !
wet pressure & cold
oily weak pressure & warm
hard cold & even pressure
soft warm & uneven pressure
evidence: not bad
1. mixtures of secondaries from primaries
2. physiological attunement (for pressure > next)
3. cultural salience (common language terms)
Survey of the skin: 1.5 to 3 square meters of it
1. epidermis
papillary ridges on glabrous skin
(most sensitive, most researched)
Merkel disks, sustained touch, small
2. corium (dermis)
Meissner's corpuscles, transient touch, rub
Ruffini endings, sustained touch, skin stretch
Pacinian corpuscles, transient touch, light
3. subcutaneous tissue (fat)
dermatomes vs. receptive fields
Pain, algesia
Fingertip;
glabrous
1
Me
2
r
3
Mei
4
P
glabrous
skin
Me
r
hairy
Mei
skin
Ruf
Pac
1
from text
1
from Day
06
Twopoint thresholds and their importance
indirect measure of lateral inhibition
direct indication of size of receptive fields
compass and
2-pt thresholds
center-surround
organization
One of the basic
principles of
receptor organization
lateral inhibition
Braille resolution on
fingertips
Central pathway
spine > dermatomes
medial lemniscus
thalamus
somatosensory cortex
~all skin dorsal root
enervated by two entrance
overlapping
dermatomes
dorsal roots; sensory
nerves entering
spine on back side
site of
decussatio
n
Left hemisphere
cortical maps
Put next to one another
areas that need to
communicate (rapidly)
Result:
topologica
l maps
Penfield
sensory
humuncul
i
Insula
, taste
cortex
The Pain Sense (algesia)
is it separate from other touch
qualities? YES
is it separable from touch? YES
is cutaneous pain related to
pain in other modalities?
YES
Pain and painrelated systems Systems:
1. hormonal endorphins, enkephalins,
morphine before (d’) and after injury (β)
turning off pain analgesia
2. cognitive & cultural
Shirley MacLean deferring pain
couvade turning on pain
3. neuronal receptors and gate control theory
registering pain, turning it on and off
The Pain Sense (neuronal form) Von Frey Hairs
receptor: free nerve endings (cornea)
Pain Pressure Cold Warm
back of knee 230
chest 200 50 13 1
forearm 200 15 6 0.5
back of hand 190 14 7 0.5
ball of thumb 60 120
tip of nose 45 100 13 1
different distribution than pressure, warm, and cold sensitivities
cold & warm in equal proportion
The Pain Sense
receptor: free nerve endings (cornea)
function with the histamine release in damaged tissue
the tissue swells.
Swelling, pinching, and weight
compress free nerve endings and trigger pain
different touch decussation
pathway in brain stem
than touch
sharp pain
dull pain
pain decussation
in spinal cord
The Pain Sense
huge individual differences
first pass:
the world of pain tolerance divides into two groups:
1. Those woman who have experienced
natural childbirth
2. The rest of us
Phantom limbs:
body schema Henry Head (Stratton too)
arm loss
cortical takeover by facial area
and other areas
Phenomena:
mislocation of phantoms
pain "in" lost limb Müller
anomalous summation & delays
counterirritation
(stimulationproduced analgesia)
mislocation
left side
of body
front
back
cortical “takeover” immediate
but only partial
pain "in" lost limb Müller
anomalous summation & delays
counterirritation
(stimulationproduced analgesia)
Gate Control Theory: 4 pathways, 3 fiber types
Aß 40 m/s (~90 mph) fast (L)
A∂ 20 m/s slow (S)
C 3 m/s very slow
cognitive/situational
suppression of pain
1&3
1
3
3&4
4
2
2&4
1. Fastest excites sharp pain spinothalamic path
1. excites sharp
pain
3. inhibits pain
4. increases
pain 2. excites dull pain
Counterirritation:
rough rubbing increases activity in
pathway 3, which excites activity in SG,
which in turn inhibits pain (as antagonist
to pathway 4)
Skin, Pain, & Phantom Limbs
Primaries pressure, pain von Frey hairs
temperature warm & cold
Lateral inhibition
twopoint thresholds
receptive fields
centersurround organization >role of inhibition
Skin & its innervation, cortical maps > maps & organization
Pain & its systems anecdotes >multiple systems
1. hormonal endorphins, enkephalins
morphine before & after injury
2. cognitive/cultural
couvade
3. neuronal
Gate Control Theory
Melzack >role of inhibition