When the man who studies biology meets the man who studies only electronics, here in the old west, the electronics man is dead. (semi quote from the film "A Fistful of Dollars" Clint Eastwood).
This is because cellular life is billions of years older and more expert than electronic man in dealing with matter with the laws of physics.
#1
When using the decibel as a measurement, Wikipedia says:
"The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whose levels differ by one decibel have a power ratio of 101/10 (approximately 1.26) or root-power ratio of 101⁄20 (approximately 1.12).[1][2]
The unit expresses a relative change or an absolute value. In the latter case, the numeric value expresses the ratio of a value to a fixed reference value; when used in this way, the unit symbol is often suffixed with letter codes that indicate the reference value. For example, for the reference value of 1 volt, a common suffix is "V" (e.g., "20 dBV").[3][4]
and at the beginning "From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the logarithmic unit. For use of this unit in sound measurements, see Sound pressure level. For other uses, see Decibel (disambiguation)."
The human perception of the intensity of sound and light more nearly approximates the logarithm of intensity rather than a linear relationship (see Weber–Fechner law), making the dB scale a useful measure.[30][31][32][33] [34][35]"
and you're getting really bored with a lot of difficult words and mysterious acronyms. Me too
But for our purposes (does beer influence tactile perception or not) this will suffice:
"Weber–Fechner law
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and I quote:
The Weber–Fechner laws are two related hypotheses in the field of psychophysics, known as Weber's law and Fechner's law. Both laws relate to human perception, more specifically the relationship between the actual change in a physical stimulus and the perceived change. This includes stimuli to all senses: vision, hearing, taste, touch, and smell.
Weber states that, "the minimum increase of stimulus which will produce a perceptible increase of sensation is proportional to the pre-existent stimulus," while Fechner's law is an inference from Weber's law (with additional assumptions) which states that the intensity of our sensation increases as the logarithm of an increase in energy rather than as rapidly as the increase.[1]
Ok I'm here again for today, it's a very changeable day here in northern Italy, now it's raining.
We remained with psychophysics and "The Weber–Fechner laws are two related hypotheses in the field of psychophysics, known as Weber's law and Fechner's law. Both laws relate to human perception, more specifically the relation between the actual change in a physical stimulus and the perceived change. This includes stimuli to all senses: vision, hearing, taste, touch, and smell.
Weber states that, "the minimum increase of stimulus which will produce a perceptible increase of sensation is proportional to the pre-existent stimulus," while Fechner's law is an inference from Weber's law (with additional assumptions) which states that the intensity of our sensation increases as the logarithm of an increase in energy rather than as rapidly as the increase." always from here:
Strong stuff, German scientists, directed by Wunt financed by Bismark, 1st Reich. It would seem that Bismark was very interested in this research and others on the human psyche and man's stimulus and response, given that he had a very large conscript army, however, as we know, conscripts are not very ferocious and so he financed this research to understand how to do . This was to wage war on the French who had an army of professionals who were already ferocious in their own right and the Germans won, but maybe I'm wrong, I'm not a historian. However, serious, very serious stuff.
Here is how the laws apply and what are the physical and biological values to take into consideration to measure the sense of touch, scientists have already given all the answers.
The sense of touch is a masterpiece of the human body, and in this document you will find a description of how it works in all its parts, how to measure it precisely and why things are this way. Including what measurements are taken into account and how the intensity of the vibrational stimulus is found and expressed. How this varies from individual to individual and I quote:
"Intensive Information Processing
One of the most emerging properties of a tactile stimulus is its perceived intensity or "loudness." The minimal energy that can be felt is called the absolute threshold (RL). Owing to individual differences across observers. this value varies from person to person. and from test to test."
It also ends with surprising conclusions regarding the blind and their sense of touch.
Here we find all the foundations of this science, it is not difficult to read and with a little study everyone can understand it and understand how touch and vibratory stimuli work. There is no parameter of research on vibrational stimuli that cannot be scientifically explained without doubt and in my opinion when applying vibrational therapies for PD I would definitely not drink beer, not even in the previous 24 hours.
Now the study of touch tells us that …and I quote:”Intensitive Information Processing
One of the most emergent properties of a tactile stimulus is its perceived intensity or "loudness." The minimal energy that can be felt is called the absolute threshold (RL). Owing to individual differences across observers. this value varies from person to person. and from test to test. A variety of methods can be used to determine threshold. such as gradually increasing or decreasing the intensity and asking the observer when he or she just notices the stimulus or its disappearance. ” .
But the question that arises spontaneously to the electronic man is: How can I create a tool that stimulates touch like gloves if each person is different and the parameters are fixed?
You can’t and I quote: ”Measuurement of threshold, while interesting in and of itself, also provides a reference point that allows us to set stimulus levels in a consistent way across observers. For example. in many vibrotactile experiments the stimulus is set to 5-10 times above threshold (in log units, about 14-20 dB with reference to threshold. or dB SL). The physical intensity of this signal varies from observer to observer. depending on their threshold, but the loudness is the same for all. Tactile thresholds can be extraordinarily small. Given the appropriate set of conditions. a person can feel a vibratory stimulus that has an amplitude as low as 0.2 microns (250 Hz on the palm of the hand (Gescheider et al.. 1978)). Pressure thresholds are as low as 5 mg (on the face), which has been likened to having a wing of a fly dropping from about 3 em onto the skin. Khanna and Sherrick (1981) have calculated that approximately 2 x 10 8 watts must be expended to stimulate a single Pacinian corpuscle. LaMotte and his colleagues have similarly determined that the careful observer can feel microscopic bumps (or asperities) in an otherwise smooth surface as small as 1-3 microns in height (LaMotte & Whitehouse, 1986). Many of these thresholds have been found to vary over the surface of the body, owing both to the differences in innervation de nsity as well as the variation in the complement of receptors (J. C. Stevens, 1990. and his chapter in this volume). Fig. 2.8 illustrates the variation in threshold over the surface of the body to bursts of 200-Hz sinusoids and pressure stimuli.…etcetra. . Etcetra
I understand you Ghmac , but I can't do it because it is an attempt to deepen the topic, not to simplify it. (simplify is why they are building artificial intelligence but for now it is not advisable). They are all specialist quotes that concern the science of human perceptions. If you have read the linked references you will have seen that they are mostly definitions of scientific terms. In point #4 I mention a very fascinating study that describes the structure and function of tactile perception in humans and as I mentioned it tells us that it varies from person to person, from moment to moment, from the psychophysical condition.
So I wonder how it is possible to build a device for the treatment of Parkinson's disease symptoms that stimulates touch in the same way for everyone, without requiring calibration to adapt it to each individual. I'm sure scientists could resolve this point, but the fact is that when electronic technology meets biological structures built over billions of years of evolution everything becomes very complex and no one has the solution in their pocket. What matters is the result and all roads are open. Having been dealing with visually impaired people I was struck by this conclusion that in my opinion is a further step forward i.e. that the awareness of the individual determines the ability to perceive regardless of the biological structure and I quote:
”CONCLUSIONS
Psychophysical measures of the skin's sensitivity can be affected by factors other than its physiology or stimulus conditions. Cognitive factors such as attention. motivation, learning. or task demands also have to be taken into account. To illustrate. there is a popular misconception that the skin of blind persons is more sensitive. as if the disability somehow increased the number or nature of the receptors in the skin. Tests of pressure sensitivity and two- point thresholds, however. show no significant differences owing to the dis-ability itself (Axelrod. 1959). Although no differences exist in these measures of sensitivity. blind persons do excel in certain types of complex tactile form perception. indicating that basic measures do not necessarily predict perfor- mance on more cognitively demanding tasks. In fact. what appears to bethe case is that blind persons are simply more attentive to this communication channel than those of us who are sighted (Hollins, 1989, pp. 45-47). These issues will be dealt with elsewhere in this volume.
The following chapters will build on these data, discussing in more detail how tactile information is perceived in displays, natural and artificial, simple and complex. The skin can provide a rich alternative input channel for those whose visual and auditory sensory channels are either overloaded (as in the case of jet fighter pilots) or disabled (as in the case of blind or deaf persons). The chapters will illustrate the richness of sensations available through this oft-ignored communication channel. which allows us to keep in touch with the world around us.”
Here's a simplified version for an English-speaking five-year-old:. Don't underestimate my AI friend!
"Scientists are trying to make a special device to help people with Parkinson's disease. This disease makes it hard for them to move and causes their body to shake. The device uses touch to help them feel better. But the tricky part is that everyone is different and needs different kinds of touch. Scientists are still figuring out how to make the device work for each person. It's a big challenge because technology is different from our bodies. But the scientists are not giving up! They really want to help people with Parkinson's.”
Very nice Esperanto, An AI evolved yours and empathetic. You instructed it very well 😀.
Your AI has understood one thing that is that the real enemy of PWPs is apathy.
Apathy is like glue and self-generates. Apathetic thinking is what caregivers fear more than the disease itself.
It is that often unexpressed consideration, which suggests "nothing can be done, it's all useless… (I do not want to give too many examples). But this apathy can be induced by others with considerations such as: "you have to accept the inevitable progression of the disease, …what you do could hurt but I am not an expert…🙄 , do nothing...do nothing... , and do nothing , bah!
Really cruel.
This could send a Pwps straight into apathy from which he may not recover.
In my opinion when apathy becomes heavy it leads to spiritual death that precedes physical death, (although years may pass) and must be avoided.
Solution: " between doing and not doing , doing nothing is the wrong thing, “
so my message for all pwps is..
do something !! … and if you are already sunk in apathy and find no reason to do it, at least do it out of love for your caregiver, it's not wrong, listen to me!.
Esperanto ,It's always very nice to read all your posts,
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