Perceptual Learning Can Improve Nociceptive Directional Discrimination

The temporal and spatial characteristics of the nociceptive system have been previously investigated to understand pain mechanisms. One way to evaluate the combined temporospatial integration of sensory information is by directional discrimination. Since directional discrimination is a perceptual ability, it may be improved through perceptual learning. Perceptual learning improves the ability to perceive and recognize stimuli through practice but has rarely been investigated in the nociceptive system. The aim of this study was to investigate if perceptual learning affects nociceptive directional discrimination using moving temperature-controlled laser stimuli. Twenty-eight healthy subjects participated in a crossover study on two different days. On each day, subjects went through either supervised (i.e., with feedback) or unsupervised (i.e., without feedback) training to discriminate the direction of the moving stimulus in the right forearm. The noxious stimulus was displaced across the skin in four directions (distal, proximal, lateral, and medial) and five different displacement lengths. The subjects had to indicate the perceived stimulus direction and the degree of certainty in the discriminated direction. The results showed that there was a significant increase in the correctness of the indicated directions and certainty following supervised training. In the lateral-medial direction, the supervised training decreased the directional discrimination threshold (DDT, where 50% of directions were correctly discriminated), which was not observed for the unsupervised training. In conclusion, it was found that only supervised training improves the performance of directional discrimination. While the percentage of correct answers increased following supervised training, the estimated DDT did not decrease in all directions.