# CUTANEOUS SENSITIVITY AND AGING

> **NIH NIH R01** · JOHN B. PIERCE LABORATORY, INC. · 1993 · $139,094

## Abstract

Psychophysical research on the human senses has tended to slight the
cutaneous senses (tactile and temperature), when it comes to their
capacities to function over the life span.  The goal is to examine five
fundamental (and largely mutually independent) measures of cutaneous
sensitivity, over the whole body surface, and from childhood to old age.
The five types, all implicated as age-related by background research and
pilot data, are: (1) spatial acuity (alignment threshold), (2) error of
point localization, (3) texture discrimination, (4) absolute thresholds to
warming and cooling, and (5) absolute thresholds to high-frequency
vibration.  State-of-the-art, forced-choice, psychophysical procedures will
be brought to bear throughout.  The somatic profiles of tactile sensitivity
therewith constructed will help to elucidate two basic issues: (a) Does
aging influence these five types of sensitivity uniformly or
differentially? (b) Does aging affect all body regions uniformly or
differentially?  Preliminary evidence favors the working hypotheses that
(1) all five types may suffer impairment but in varying degrees, and that
(2) the more peripheral the region, the greater may be the toll taken by
aging.  Measurement will address primarily the gradual changes
characterizing the normal aging process.  They may nonetheless have
important secondary implications for other age-related human conditions,
whose study in turn may also reciprocally help to characterize normal
aging.  Four of these will come under study: (1) spatial acuity and texture
discrimination in blind persons of various ages, and the relation of
age-related changes in cutaneous sensitivity to the speed of
braille-reading; (2) the effects of chronic cigarette smoking on cutaneous
sensitivity and the possible recovery after quitting; (3) the manifestation
of long-term occupational exposure to vibration on cutaneous sensitivities
of patients with Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (and a sub-set of these
patients who are also diabetic); and (4) the relation of habitual physical
activity and fitness to peripheral circulation and cutaneous sensitivity,
especially in older persons.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3122276
- **Project number:** 5R01AG010295-02
- **Recipient organization:** JOHN B. PIERCE LABORATORY, INC.
- **SAM.gov UEI:** KRKPFMRJ5H19
- **Principal Investigator:** JOSEPH C STEVENS
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1993
- **Award amount:** $139,094
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1992-09-18 → 1996-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3122276

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3122276, CUTANEOUS SENSITIVITY AND AGING (5R01AG010295-02). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3122276. Licensed CC0.

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