Enhancement of vibrotactile sensation magnitude and predictions from the duplex model of mechanoreception.

The degree to which the sensation magnitude of a vibrotactile stimulus is enhanced by a prior stimulus was studied for vibration of the thenar eminence of the right hand. Enhancement was measured by a psychophysical matching procedure in which two brief stimuli separated by a variable time interval were presented to the skin and the subject adjusted a third stimulus to match the sensation magnitude of the second stimulus. By this procedure, it is possible to determine functional relationships between enhancement and the time interval between stimuli, the intensity of the stimuli, and the frequency of the stimuli. The results were consistent with the duplex model of mechanoreception.