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Journal of Experimental Biology 29,220-234 (1952)
Published by Company of Biologists 1952

The Response Of A Sense Organ To A Harmonic Stimulus

J. W. S. PRINGLE ¹ and V. J. WILSON ²

¹ The Zoological Laboratory, University of Cambridge
² The Zoological Laboratory, University of Cambridge; Department of Physiology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill., U.S.A.

1. The response is described of the tactile ending in a femoral spine of the leg of Periplaneta to a harmonic (sinusoidal) mechanical stimulus of low frequency. The peak frequency of impulses in the sensory nerve precedes the maximum tension of the stimulus.

2. This result is shown to be a corollary of the adaptation shown by the sensory response to a transient stimulus.

3. The concept of the ‘transfer function’ is discussed in relation to neurophysiology. Its value is explained as a means of describing the dynamic properties of component parts of the nervous system when the objective is an understanding of the functioning of the complete reflex arc.

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