Abstract
A psychophysical apparatus and procedure that can be used to define the performance and estimate the thresholds of frequency discrimination in adult primates is described. This protocol has been used to train adult owl monkeys to discriminate differences in the frequencies of successively presented sinusoidal tactile stimuli delivered to a restricted skin surface of a single digit, and to train a second set of adult owl monkeys to discriminate. differences in frequencies between paired auditory tonal stimuli. The thresholds estimated with this procedure are comparable to those measured in other primates. The advantages of using this procedure for combined behavioral and physiological studies are discussed.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allman, J. M., &Kaas, J. H. (1975). The dorsomedial cortical visual area: A third tier area in the occipital lobe of the owl monkey(Aotus trivirgatus).Brain Research,100, 473–487.
Allman, J. M., &Kaas, J. H. (1976). Representation of the visual field on the medial wall of occipital-parietal cortex in the owl monkey.Science,191, 572–575.
Anderson, J. R. (1981).Cognitive skills and their acquisition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Burton, H., Sathian, K., &Dian-Hua, S. (1990). Altered responses to cutaneous stimuli in the second somatosensory cortex following lesions of the postcentral gyrus in infant and juvenile macaques.Journal of Comparative Neurology,291, 395–414.
Carlson, M. (1981). Characteristics of sensory deficits following lesions of Brodmann’s areas 1 and 2 in the postcentral gyrus ofMacaca mulatto.Brain Research,204, 424–430.
Carlson, M. (1984a). Development of tactile discrimination capacity inMacaca mulatto: I. Normal infants.Developmental Brain Research,16, 69–82.
Carlson, M. (1984b). Development of tactile discrimination capacity inMacaca mulatta: II. Effects of partial removal of primary somatic sensory cortex (Sml) in infants and juveniles.Developmental Brain Research,16, 83–101.
Carlson, M. (1984c). Development of tactile discrimination capacity inMacaca mulatta: HI. Effects of total removal of primary somatic sensory cortex (Sml) in infants and juveniles.Developmental Brain Research,16, 103–117.
Carlson, M., &Burton, H. (1988). Recovery of tactile function after damage to primary or secondary somatic sensory cortex in infantMacaca mulatta.Journal of Neuroscience,8, 833–859.
Chubbuck, J. G. (1966, May–June). Small-motion biological stimulator.Applied Physics & Laboratory Techniques Digest, pp. 18–23.
Cole, J., &Glees, P. (1954). Effects of small lesions in sensory cortex in trained monkeys.Journal of Neurophysiology,1, 1–13.
Essick, G. K., &Whitsel, B. L. (1985a). Assessment of the capacity of human subjects and SI neurons to distinguish opposing directions of stimulus motion across the skin.Brain Research Reviews,10, 187–212.
Essick, G. K., &Whitsel, B. L. (1985b). Factors influencing cutaneous directional sensitivity: A correlative psychophysical and neurophysiological investigation.Brain Research Reviews,10, 213–230.
Gibson, E.J. (1953). Improvement in perceptual judgments as a function of controlled practice or training.Psychological Bulletin,50, 401–431.
Goff, G. D. (1967). Differential discrimination of frequency of cutaneous mechanical vibration.Journal of Experimental Psychology,74, 294–299.
Green, D. M., &Swets, J. A. (1966).Signal detection theory. New York: Wiley.
Imig, T. J., Ruggero, M. A., Kitzes, L. M., Javel, E., &Brugge, J. F. (1977). Organization of auditory cortex in the owl monkey(Aotus trivirgatus).Journal of Comparative Neurology,171, 111–128.
James, W. (1950).The principles of psychology (Vol. 1). New York: Dover. (Original work published 1890)
Jenkins, W. M. (1982). Interfacing the Apple II for the behavioral laboratory.Behavior Research Methods & Instrumentation,14, 345–347.
Jenkins, W. M., Merzenich, M. M., Ochs, M., Allard, T. T., &Guice-Robles, E. (1990). Functional reorganization of primary somatosensory cortex in adult owl monkeys after behaviorally controlled tactile stimulation.Journal of Neurophysiology,63, 82–104.
Johnson, K. O., &Phillips, J. R. (1981). Tactile spatial resolutions: I. Two-point discrimination, gap detection, grating resolution and letter recognition.Journal of Neurophysiology,46, 1177–1191.
Kaas, J. H., Krubitzer, L. H., Chino, Y. M., Langston, A. L., Polley, E. H., &Blair, N. (1990). Reorganization of retinotopic cortical maps in adult mammals after lesions of the retina.Science,228, 229–231.
Kaas, J. H., Nelson, R. J., Sur, M., Chia-Sheng, L., &Merzenich, M. M. (1979). Multiple representations of the body within the primary somatosensory cortex of primates.Science,204, 521–523.
Lamb, G. D. (1983). Tactile discrimination of textured surfaces: Psychophysical performance measurements in humans.Journal of Physiology,338, 551–565.
LaMotte, R. H., &Mountcastle, V. B. (1975). Capacities of humans and monkeys to discriminate between vibratory stimuli of different frequency and amplitude: A correlation between neural events and psychophysical measurements.Journal of Neurophysiology,38, 539–559.
LaMotte, R. H., &Mountcastle, V. B. (1979). Disorders in somesthesis following lesions of parietal lobe.Journal of Neurophysiology,42, 400–419.
Merzenich, M. M., &Kaas, J. H. (1980). Principles of organization of sensory-perceptual systems in mammals.Progress in Psychobiology & Physiological Psychology,9, 1–42.
Merzenich, M. M., Kaas, J. H., Sur, M., &Lin, C. S. (1978). Double representation of the body surface within cytoarchitectonic areas 3b and 1 in “SI” in the owl monkey(Aotus trivirgatus).Journal of Comparative Neurology,181, 41–73.
Merzenich, M. M., Nelson, R. J., Kaas, J. H., Stryker, M. P., Jenkins, W. M., Zook, J. M., Cynader, M. S., &Schoppman, A. (1987). Variability in hand surface representations in areas 3b and 1 in adult owl and squirrel monkeys.Journal of Comparative Neurology,258, 281–296.
Merzenich, M. M., Recanzone, G. H., Jenkins, W. M., Allard, T. T., &Nudo, R. J. (1988). Cortical representational plasticity. In T. P. Rakic & W. Singer (Eds.),Neurology of neocortex (pp. 41–67). New York: Wiley.
Merzenich, M. M., Recanzone, G. H., Jenkins, W. M., &Nudo, R. J. (1990). How the brain functionally rewires itself. In M. Arbib & J. A. Robinson (Eds.),Natural and artificial parallel computations (pp. 177–210). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Mountcastle, V. B., Steinmetz, M. A., &Romo, R. (1990). Frequency discrimination in the sense of flutter: Psychophysical measurements correlated with postcentral events in behaving monkeys.Journal of Neuroscience,10, 3032–3044.
Mountcastle, V. B., Talbot, W. H., Sakata, H., &Hyvarinen, J. (1969). Cortical neuronal mechanisms in flutter-vibration studied in unanesthetized monkeys. Neuronal periodicity and frequency discrimination.Journal of Neurophysiology,32, 452–484.
Pons, T. P., Garraghty, P. E., &Mishkin, M. (1988). Lesion-induced plasticity in the second somatosensory cortex of adult macaques.Proceedings of the National Academy of Science,85, 5279–5281.
Randolph, M., &Semmes, J. (1974). Behavioral consequences of selective subtotal ablations in the postcentral gyrus ofMacaca mulatto.Brain Research,70, 55–70.
Recanzone, G. H.,Jenkins, W. M.,Hradek, G. T., &Merzenich, M. M. (1991).Progressive improvements in discriminative abilities in adult owl monkeys performing a tactile frequency discrimination task. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Recanzone, G. H.,Merzenich, M. M., &Jenkins, W. M. (1991).Frequency discrimination training engaging a restricted skin surface results in an emergence of a cutaneous response zone in cortical area 3a. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Recanzone, G. H.,Merzenich, M. M.,Jenkins, W. M.,Grajski, K. A., &Dinse, H. R. (1991).Topographie reorganization of the hand representation in cortical area 3b of owl monkeys trained in a frequency discrimination task. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Recanzone, G. H.,Merzenich, M. M., &Schreiner, C. E. (1991).Changes in the distributed temporal response properties of SI cortical neurons reflect improvements in performance on a temporally based tactile discrimination task. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Robertson, D., &Irvine, D. R. F. (1989). Plasticity of frequency organization in auditory cortex of guinea pigs with partial unilateral deafness.Journal of Comparative Neurology,282, 456–471.
Sanes, J. N., Suner, S., &Donoghue, J. P. (1990). Dynamic organization of primary motor cortex output to target muscles in adult rats: I. Long-term patterns of reorganization following motor or mixed peripheral nerve lesions.Experimental Brain Research,79, 479–491.
Semmes, J., &Porter, L. (1972). A comparison of precentral and postcentral cortical lesions on somatosensory discrimination in the monkey.Cortex,8, 249–264.
Semmes, J., Porter, L., &Randolph, M. (1974). Further studies of anterior postcentral lesions in monkeys.Cortex,10, 55–68.
Singley, M. K., &Anderson, J. R. (1989).The transfer of cognitive skill. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Sinnott, J. M., &Aslin, R. N. (1985). Frequency and intensity discrimination in human infants and adults.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,78, 1986–1992.
Sinnott, J. M., Owren, M. J., &Petersen, M. R. (1987). Auditory frequency discrimination in primates: Species differences(Cercopithecus, Macaca, Homo).Journal of Comparative Psychology,101, 126–131.
Sinnott, J. M., Petersen, M. R., &Hopp, S. L. (1985). Frequency and intensity discrimination in humans and monkeys.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,78, 1977–1985.
Talbot, W. M., Darian-Smith, I., Kornhuber, H. H., &Mountcastle, V. B. (1968). The sense of flutter-vibration: Comparison of the human capacity with response patterns of mechanoreceptive afférents from the monkey hand.Journal of Neurophysiology,31, 301–334.
Vierck, C. J., Jr.,Favorov, O., &Whitsel, B. L. (1988). Neural mechanisms of absolute tactile localization in monkeys.Somatosensory & Motor Research,6, 41–61.
Vierck, C. J., Jr., &Jones, M. B. (1970). Influences of low and high frequency oscillation upon spatio-tactile resolution.Physiology & Behavior,5, 1431–1435.
von Bék;ésy, G. (1959). Synchronism of neural discharges and their demultiplication in pitch perception on the skin and in hearing.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,31, 338–349.
Wier, C. C, Jesteadt, W., &Green, D. M. (1977). Frequency discrimination as a function of frequency and sensation level.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,61, 178–184.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The authors would like to thank Lazlo Bocskai, Burton Rutkin, and Marshall Fong for technical support in development of the apparatus. We would also like to thank Henry Heffher for insightful discussion of the temporal parameters for the stimulus presentation, advice in developing the probability tables of S2 presentation, and assistance in the safe-rate correction procedure. We are grateful to K. O. Johnson for the generous use of a Chubbuck tactile stimulator, and Thomas Chimento for critical comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. This project was funded by NIH Grants NS-10414 and GM-07449, and by Hearing Research and the Coleman Fund. G. H. Recanzone is presently at the Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Recanzone, G.H., Jenkins, W.M., Hradek, G.T. et al. A behavioral frequency discrimination paradigm for use in adult primates. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers 23, 357–369 (1991). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203397
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203397