How Fast Is Too Fast? Boundaries to the Perception of Electrical Stimulation of Peripheral Nerves
Transcutaneous electrical stimulation is a promising technique for providing prosthetic hand users with information about sensory events. However, questions remain over how to design the stimulation paradigms to provide users the best opportunity to discriminate these events. Here, we investigate if...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IEEE
2022-01-01
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| Series: | IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9732519/ |
| _version_ | 1797805262763982848 |
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| author | Sigrid Dupan Zak McNeill Eera Sarda Emma Brunton Kianoush Nazarpour |
| author_facet | Sigrid Dupan Zak McNeill Eera Sarda Emma Brunton Kianoush Nazarpour |
| author_sort | Sigrid Dupan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Transcutaneous electrical stimulation is a promising technique for providing prosthetic hand users with information about sensory events. However, questions remain over how to design the stimulation paradigms to provide users the best opportunity to discriminate these events. Here, we investigate if the refractory period influences how the amplitude of the applied stimulus is perceived. Twenty participants completed a two-alternative forced choice experiment. We delivered two stimuli spaced between 250 ms to 450 ms apart (inter-stimulus-interval, isi). The participants reported which stimulus they perceived as strongest. Each stimulus consisted of either a single or paired pulse delivered transcutaneously. The inter-pulse interval (ipi) for the paired pulse stimuli varied between 6 and 10 ms. We found paired pulses with an ipi of 6 ms were perceived stronger than a single pulse less often than paired pulses with an ipi of 8 ms (p = 0.001) or 10 ms (p < 0.0001). Additionally, we found when the isi was 250 ms, participants were less likely to identify the paired pulse as strongest, than when the isi was 350 or 450 ms. This study emphasizes the importance of basing stimulation paradigms on the underlying neural physiology. The results indicate there is an upper limit to the commonly accepted notion that higher stimulation frequencies lead to stronger perception. If frequency is to be used to encode sensory events, then the results suggest stimulus paradigms should be designed using frequencies below 125 Hz. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T05:48:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fd3761f36e27424c9ca94495d80e0706 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1558-0210 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T05:48:25Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering |
| spelling | doaj.art-fd3761f36e27424c9ca94495d80e07062023-06-13T20:06:28ZengIEEEIEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering1558-02102022-01-013078278810.1109/TNSRE.2022.31580679732519How Fast Is Too Fast? Boundaries to the Perception of Electrical Stimulation of Peripheral NervesSigrid Dupan0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0332-3764Zak McNeill1Eera Sarda2Emma Brunton3Kianoush Nazarpour4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4217-0254School of Informatics, Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, U.K.School of Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K.Department of Bioengineering, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USADepartment of Optometry and Vision Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, AustraliaSchool of Informatics, Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, U.K.Transcutaneous electrical stimulation is a promising technique for providing prosthetic hand users with information about sensory events. However, questions remain over how to design the stimulation paradigms to provide users the best opportunity to discriminate these events. Here, we investigate if the refractory period influences how the amplitude of the applied stimulus is perceived. Twenty participants completed a two-alternative forced choice experiment. We delivered two stimuli spaced between 250 ms to 450 ms apart (inter-stimulus-interval, isi). The participants reported which stimulus they perceived as strongest. Each stimulus consisted of either a single or paired pulse delivered transcutaneously. The inter-pulse interval (ipi) for the paired pulse stimuli varied between 6 and 10 ms. We found paired pulses with an ipi of 6 ms were perceived stronger than a single pulse less often than paired pulses with an ipi of 8 ms (p = 0.001) or 10 ms (p < 0.0001). Additionally, we found when the isi was 250 ms, participants were less likely to identify the paired pulse as strongest, than when the isi was 350 or 450 ms. This study emphasizes the importance of basing stimulation paradigms on the underlying neural physiology. The results indicate there is an upper limit to the commonly accepted notion that higher stimulation frequencies lead to stronger perception. If frequency is to be used to encode sensory events, then the results suggest stimulus paradigms should be designed using frequencies below 125 Hz.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9732519/Electrical stimulationsensory feedbackneural behaviorprosthetic control |
| spellingShingle | Sigrid Dupan Zak McNeill Eera Sarda Emma Brunton Kianoush Nazarpour How Fast Is Too Fast? Boundaries to the Perception of Electrical Stimulation of Peripheral Nerves IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering Electrical stimulation sensory feedback neural behavior prosthetic control |
| title | How Fast Is Too Fast? Boundaries to the Perception of Electrical Stimulation of Peripheral Nerves |
| title_full | How Fast Is Too Fast? Boundaries to the Perception of Electrical Stimulation of Peripheral Nerves |
| title_fullStr | How Fast Is Too Fast? Boundaries to the Perception of Electrical Stimulation of Peripheral Nerves |
| title_full_unstemmed | How Fast Is Too Fast? Boundaries to the Perception of Electrical Stimulation of Peripheral Nerves |
| title_short | How Fast Is Too Fast? Boundaries to the Perception of Electrical Stimulation of Peripheral Nerves |
| title_sort | how fast is too fast boundaries to the perception of electrical stimulation of peripheral nerves |
| topic | Electrical stimulation sensory feedback neural behavior prosthetic control |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9732519/ |
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