IEEE Trans Haptics. 2019 Oct-Dec;12(4):635-644. doi: 10.1109/TOH.2019.2903500. Epub 2019 Mar 26.
Recognizing and discriminating vibrotactile stimuli is an essential function of the Pacinian corpuscle. This function has been studied at length in both a computational and an experimental setting, but the two approaches have rarely been compared, especially when the computational model has a high level of structural detail. In this paper, we explored whether the predictions of a multiscale, multiphysical computational model of the Pacinian corpuscle can predict the outcome of a corresponding psychophysical experiment. The discrimination test involved either two simple stimuli with frequency in the 160-500 Hz range, or two complex stimuli formed by combining the waveforms for a 100-Hz stimulus with a second stimulus in the 160-500 Hz range. The subjects' ability to distinguish between the simple stimuli increased as the frequency increased, a result consistent with the model predictions for the same stimuli. The model also predicted correctly that subjects would find the complex stimuli more difficult to distinguish than the simple ones and also that the discriminability of the complex stimuli would show no trend with frequency difference.
识别和区分振动触觉刺激是帕西尼小体的基本功能。这个功能已经在计算和实验两个方面进行了广泛的研究，但这两种方法很少进行比较，尤其是当计算模型具有高度的结构细节时。在本文中，我们探讨了帕西尼小体的多尺度、多物理计算模型的预测是否可以预测相应的心理物理实验的结果。辨别测试涉及具有 160-500 Hz 频率范围内的两个简单刺激，或者由具有 100 Hz 刺激的波形与 160-500 Hz 频率范围内的第二个刺激组合而成的两个复杂刺激。随着频率的增加，受试者区分简单刺激的能力也随之提高，这一结果与模型对相同刺激的预测一致。该模型还正确地预测到，与简单刺激相比，受试者会发现复杂刺激更难区分，并且复杂刺激的可辨别性与频率差无关。
