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Evoked response correlates of psychophysical magnitude estimates for tactile stimulation in man

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Summary

Cortical responses evoked by transient sensory stimulation of the index and middle fingers were recorded from the scalp over the contralateral primary somatic projection area in man. Stimulus amplitude and locus were systematically varied. The relationship between stimulus intensity and the magnitude of the evoked response is adequately described by a power function. The exponent of the psychophysical function generated under similar stimulus conditions is of approximately the same size. A mathematical model is presented to describe and predict spatial summation. A complete isomorphism between psychological and neurophysiological events is obtained.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Communication Sciences, Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 02139, Cambridge, Mass, USA

    Ove Franzén &  Kurt Offenloch

  2. Neurologiska Kliniken Karolinska Sjukhuset, 60, Stockholm, Sverige

    Ove Franzén

  3. Institut für Animalische Physiologie J.W. Goethe-Universität, 6000, Frankfurt a./M, Deutschland

    Kurt Offenloch

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  1. Ove Franzén
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This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (Grant 1 PO 1 GM-14940-01), additional support was received by O.F. through the Sweden-America Foundation and the Swedish Council for Social Science Research (Number 213/66P) and by K.O. through a Public Health Service International Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (Number 1FO 5-TW-1128-01).

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Franzén, O., Offenloch, K. Evoked response correlates of psychophysical magnitude estimates for tactile stimulation in man. Exp Brain Res 8, 1–18 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00234922

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