The role of stimulus periodicity on spinal cord stimulation-induced artificial sensations in rodents

Sensory feedback is critical for effectively controlling brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) and neuroprosthetic devices. Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is proposed as a technique to induce artificial sensory perceptions in rodents, monkeys, and humans. However, to realize the full potential of SCS as a sensory neuroprosthetic technology, a better understanding of the effect of SCS pulse train parameter changes on sensory detection and discrimination thresholds is necessary. Here we investigated whether stimulation periodicity impacts rats’ ability to detect and discriminate SCS-induced perceptions at different frequencies. By varying the coefficient of variation (CV) of interstimulus pulse interval, we showed that at lower frequencies, rats could detect highly aperiodic SCS pulse trains at lower amplitudes (i.e., decreased detection thresholds). Furthermore, rats learned to discriminate stimuli with subtle differences in periodicity, and the just-noticeable differences (JNDs) from a highly aperiodic stimulus were smaller than those from a periodic stimulus. These results demonstrate that the temporal structure of an SCS pulse train is an integral parameter for modulating sensory feedback in neuroprosthetic applications.