sensitivity to temperature...the discovery reported in 1882 that thermal sensations are associated with stimulation of localized sensory spots in the skin. Detailed investigations revealed a distinction between warm spots and cold spots—that is, specific places in the human skin that are selectively sensitive to warm or cool stimuli. In general, the specificity of thermoreceptors is quite narrow, in that their nerve...The mixture of sensitivities within a given patch of skin provides a basis for the concept of adequate stimulation. Sometimes, for example, a cold spot responds to a very warm stimulus, and one experiences what is called paradoxical cold. The sensation of heat from a hot stimulus presumably arises from the adequate stimulation of warmth receptors combined with the inadequate or inappropriate...
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