SOMATOSENSORY DISCRIMINATION BASED ON CORTICAL MICROSTIMULATION

The sensation of flutter is produced when mechanical vibrations in the range of 5-50 Hz are applied to the skin(1-3). A flutter stimulus act ivates neurons in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) that somatotop ically map to the site of stimulation(4,5). A subset of these neurons- those with quickly adapting properties, associated with Meissner's cor puscles-are strongly entrained by periodic flutter vibrations, firing with a probability that oscillates at the input frequency(1,6) Hence, quickly adapting neurons provide a dynamic representation of such flut ter stimuli. However, are these neurons directly involved in the perce ption of flutter? Here we investigate this in monkeys trained to discr iminate the difference in frequency between two flutter stimuli delive red sequentially on the fingertips(1,7). Microelectrodes were inserted into area 3b of S1 and the second stimulus was substituted with a tra in of injected current pulses. Animals reliably indicated whether the frequency of the second (electrical) signal was higher or lower than t hat of the first (mechanical) signal, even though both frequencies cha nged from trial to trial. Almost identical results were obtained with periodic and aperiodic stimuli of equal average frequencies. Thus, the quickly adapting neurons in area 3b activate the circuit leading to t he perception of flutter. Furthermore, as far as can be psychophysical ly quantified during discrimination, the neural code underlying the se nsation of flutter can be finely manipulated, to the extent that the b ehavioural responses produced by natural and artificial stimuli are in distinguishable.