School of Medical Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, Australia.
PLoS One. 2020 Aug 13;15(8):e0237440. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237440. eCollection 2020.
We have previously described a novel temporal encoding mechanism in the somatosensory system, where mechanical pulses grouped into periodic bursts create a perceived tactile frequency based on the duration of the silent gap between bursts, rather than the mean rate or the periodicity. This coding strategy may offer new opportunities for transmitting information to the brain using various sensory neural prostheses and haptic interfaces. However, it was not known whether the same coding mechanisms apply when using electrical stimulation, which recruits a different spectrum of afferents. Here, we demonstrate that the predictions of the burst gap coding model for frequency perception apply to burst stimuli delivered with electrical pulses, re-emphasising the importance of the temporal structure of spike patterns in neural processing and perception of tactile stimuli. Reciprocally, the electrical stimulation data confirm that the results observed with mechanical stimulation do indeed depend on neural processing mechanisms in the central nervous system, and are not due to skin mechanical factors and resulting patterns of afferent activation.
我们之前描述了一种新的感觉系统中的时间编码机制，其中机械脉冲分组为周期性的脉冲簇，根据脉冲簇之间的静音间隙的持续时间而不是平均率或周期性来产生感知的触觉频率。这种编码策略可能为使用各种感觉神经假体和触觉界面向大脑传输信息提供新的机会。然而，使用电刺激时是否应用相同的编码机制尚不清楚，因为电刺激会招募不同的传入神经。在这里，我们证明了用于频率感知的脉冲簇间隔编码模型的预测适用于电脉冲传递的脉冲簇刺激，这再次强调了尖峰模式的时间结构在神经处理和触觉刺激感知中的重要性。反过来，电刺激数据证实，用机械刺激观察到的结果确实取决于中枢神经系统中的神经处理机制，而不是由于皮肤机械因素和由此产生的传入激活模式。
