Temperature Transients: A Model for Heat Diffusion through the Skin, Thermoreceptor Response and Thermal Sensation

Abstract

A model based on heat diffusion through the skin is developed for the dynamic response of cutaneous thermo-receptors to temperature stimuli at the skin surface. It is applied to various neurophysiological experiments with good results. The model is then extended to sensation and a set of psychophysical experiments on human subjects is examined and compared with the model predictions. Altogether, in terms of both the neurophysiological response and the sensation response, this model gives good agreement with the experiments.