Arbitrary Temporal Summation

Psychophysical rating of pressure stimuli that evoke temporal summation. These stimuli are given in quick succession, where the timing and intensity of each stimulus can be specified.

The arbitrary temporal summation procedure applies a series of rectangular pressure stimuli to one or both cuffs.

The participant is asked to rate the pain sensation of these stimuli on the VAS meter as soon as possible after the cessation of a pressure stimulus.

The VAS rating for a stimulus is recorded just before the next stimulus is given or would have been given if it had not been the last stimulus in the series. The arbitrary temporal summation procedure makes it possible to specify each stimulus in the series individually, and thus, each stimulus can have a different intensity and duration.

The procedure window for the <algometry-arbitrary-temporal-summation> procedure is shown in Figure 1. The procedure window consists of two areas: applied pressure and recorded responses.

Figure 1: Procedure window of the arbitrary temporal summation procedure

The applied pressure area will display a legend indicating which cuff outlet(s) will be active and will plot the applied pressure over time. The pressure is annotated with the psychophysical rating of each pressure stimulus.

Please see Algometry page for an introduction to the cuff pressure procedures and concepts that are common for these procedures before reading the rest of this procedure documentation.

Procedure definition

A arbitrary temporal summation procedure can be defined with the <algometry-arbitrary-temporal-summation> element within the <procedures> element in the Experiment Definition File (*.expx):

<algometry-arbitrary-temporal-summation id="AP2ATSum" 
    name="Arbitrary Temporal Summation (Stop on VAS 10) [Cuff 1]"
    experimental-setup-id="vas"
    pressure-static="0"
    primary-cuff="1"
    second-cuff="false">
    <dependencies>
        <dependency id="AP2SR01"/>
    </dependencies>
    <stimuli>
        <stimulus pressure="0.2 * AP2SR01.PTT" t-on="1" t-off="1"/>
        <stimulus pressure="0.4 * AP2SR01.PTT" t-on="1" t-off="1"/>
        <stimulus pressure="0.6 * AP2SR01.PTT" t-on="1" t-off="1"/>
        <stimulus pressure="0.8 * AP2SR01.PTT" t-on="1" t-off="1"/>
        <stimulus pressure="AP2SR01.PTT" t-on="1" t-off="1"/>
        <stimulus pressure="AP2SR01.PTT" t-on="1" t-off="1"/>
        <stimulus pressure="AP2SR01.PTT" t-on="1" t-off="1"/>
        <stimulus pressure="AP2SR01.PTT" t-on="1" t-off="1"/>
        <stimulus pressure="AP2SR01.PTT" t-on="1" t-off="1"/>
    </stimuli>
</algometry-arbitrary-temporal-summation>

Listing 1: Definition of a temporal summation procedure

Listing 1 has the following procedure specific attributes:

Attribute	Type	Specification
`pressure-static`	double = Calculated(context)	The pressure that will be applied in between the pressure stimuli. This value is included as a slight static pressure between the stimuli can prevent the cuff from shifting during the procedure.
`primary-cuff`	int=Calculated(tc)	Determines which cuff (1 or 2) will be used for the pressure stimulation.
`second-cuff`	bool	Inflate the second cuff together with the primary cuff.

Each individual <stimulus> in the sequence of stimuli is defined within the <stimuli> element. These <stimulus> elements have the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Specification
`pressure`	double = Calculated(context)	Stimulation pressure.
`t-on`	double = Calculated(context)	Duration of the stimulus.
`t-off`	double = Calculated(context)	Pause to the next stimulus [ms].

Scripting (Properties)

In addition to the properties that are common to all procedure results, the arbitrary temporal summation procedure result has the following procedure specific properties:

Name	Type	Specification
`SecondCuff`	`bool`	Was the second cuff inflated in parallel with the first cuffs (spatial summation).
`PrimaryChannel`	`int`	What was the primary cuff channel. Please note this is only relevant if `second-cuff` is False.
`MaximalPressure`	`double`	Maximal allowed pressure during the procedure.
`MaximalTime`	`double`	Maximal time of the procedure. Please note this will be longer than the actual running time if the participant was a responder.
`NumberOfStimuli`	`int`	The number of pressure stimuli applied during the procedure.
`NominalStimulatingPressure`	`double[]`	Stimulating pressure.
`TimeOn`	`double[]`	The duration of the rectangular stimuli.
`TimeOff`	`double[]`	The pause between the stimuli in the series.
`Responses`	`List<double>`	Ratings of each stimulus in the temporal summation.
`ResponseSample`	`List<double>`	Time points at which the ratings where sampled.
`StimulationPressure`	`List<double>`	Stimulation pressure during the procedure.
`VAS`	`List<double>`	Rating of the stimulation pressure during the procedure.
`Time`	`List<double>`	Time of the values in the `StimulationPressure` and `VAS` data points.

Example protocols

Introduction to Cuff Pressure Algometry.

Last modified May 21, 2026: Device server implementation (#1375) (5dd5648d)