The effects of aging on information-processing channels in the sense of touch: III. Differential sensitivity to changes in stimulus intensity.

Detection thresholds and difference limens were measured for 16 subjects ranging from 19 to 91 years of age. The stimuli were 250-Hz bursts of vibration applied through a 3.0-cm2 contactor to the thenar eminence of the right hand. Detection thresholds were higher in older than in younger subjects, as were the absolute values of difference limens. When the difference limen was expressed in relative terms as the proportion by which two stimuli had to differ in amplitude to be discriminated (delta alpha/alpha), discriminative capacities were unaffected by aging except for stimuli slightly above the detection threshold, in which case the limens of older subjects were significantly higher than those of younger subjects. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that elevations in the detection thresholds of older subjects are the results of reduced afferent input to central brain centers that, with regard to their capacity to detect the presence of threshold-level stimuli and to discriminate differences among suprathreshold stimuli, are relatively unaffected by aging.