Psychophysical correspondence between vibrotactile intensity and intracortical microstimulation for tactile neuroprostheses in rats
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Dosyalar
Tarih
2017
Yazarlar
Dergi Başlığı
Dergi ISSN
Cilt Başlığı
Yayıncı
Iop Publishing Ltd
Erişim Hakkı
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
Özet
Objective. Recent studies showed that intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) generates artificial sensations which can be utilized as somatosensory feedback in cortical neuroprostheses. To mimic the natural psychophysical response, ICMS parameters are modulated according to psychometric equivalence functions (PEFs). PEFs match the intensity levels of ICMS and mechanical stimuli, which elicit equal detection probabilities, but they typically do not include the frequency as a control variable. We aimed to establish frequencydependent PEFs for vibrotactile stimulation of the glabrous skin and ICMS in the primary somatosensory cortex of awake freely behaving rats. Approach. We collected psychometric data for vibrotactile and ICMS detection at three stimulation frequencies (40, 60 and 80 Hz). The psychometric data were fitted with a model equation of two independent variables (stimulus intensity and frequency) and four subject-dependent parameters. For each rat, we constructed a separate PEF which was used to estimate the ICMS current amplitude for a given displacement amplitude and frequency. The ICMS frequency was set equal to the vibrotactile frequency. We validated the PEFs in a modified task which included randomly selected probe trials presented either with a vibrotactile or an ICMS stimulus, and also at frequencies and intensity levels not tested before. Main results. The PEFs were generally successful in estimating the ICMS current intensities (no significant differences between vibrotactile and ICMS trials in Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests). Specifically, hit rates from both trial conditions were significantly correlated in 86% of the cases, and 52% of all data had perfect match in linear regression. Significance. The psychometric correspondence model presented in this study was constructed based on surface functions which define psychophysical detection probability as a function of stimulus intensity and frequency. Therefore, it may be used for the real-time modulation of the frequency and intensity of ICMS pulses in somatosensory neuroprostheses.
Açıklama
Anahtar Kelimeler
somatosensory, neuroprosthesis, psychometric equivalence function, vibrotactile stimulation, intracortical microstimulation, freely behaving rat, glabrous skin, Adapting Mechanoreceptive Fibers, Primary Somatosensory Cortex, Pacinian-I-Channel, Glabrous Skin, Cortical Microstimulation, Detection Thresholds, Brain Interface, Precision Grip, Discrimination, Hand
Kaynak
Journal of Neural Engineering
WoS Q Değeri
Q1
Scopus Q Değeri
Q1
Cilt
14
Sayı
1
