Successful treatment alternatives for chronic pain conditions are limited. One type of chronic pain that can occur is the condition of phantom limb pain, which can occur after the loss of a limb. Many studies have researched the correlation between chronic pain, tactile acuity, and cortical reorganization. Sensory discrimination training has been shown to improve tactile acuity and be beneficial when trying to reduce the intensity and duration of the pain in chronic pain conditions. A device has been developed by the Center for Bionics and Pain Research, and it is intended to train sensory discrimination. How efficiently this device can train sensory discrimination and how much improvements in the tactile acuity in able-bodied participants can be achieved after using the device have been investigated in this study. 16 able-bodied subjects participated in the study. The subjects received five 40 minutes training sessions on five consecutive days. The assessment of the subjects’ tactile acuity was performed before the first training session and after the last training session. The tactile acuity was also assessed after one to two weeks to determine the long-term effect of the training. There were two psychophysical analyses to determine the participants’ tactile acuity, the two-point discrimination test and the monofilament test. The results showed a significant improvement in the two-point discrimination threshold after the five training sessions, thus showing evidence of the improvement in the tactile acuity after using the sensory discrimination training device. There was no significant improvement in the monofilament test.

Jouer un instrument de musique demande l’interaction des informations provenant de multiples sens. Cette expérience sensorielle a des effets sur les réseaux corticaux et sur les habiletés comportementales chez les musiciens professionnels qui pratiquent pour plusieurs années. L’entrainement musical semble avoir un effet sur les sens, incluant le toucher, mais peu de recherches se sont penchées sur les habiletés tactiles chez les musiciens. L’objectif de cette thèse est d’évaluer les capacités tactiles unisensorielles et multisensorielles non musicales chez les musiciens à l’aide de méthodologies comportementales. La première étude avait pour objectif d’évaluer les temps de réaction auditifs, tactiles, et audiotactiles chez les musiciens. Les temps de réaction de 16 musiciens et 19 membres d’un groupe témoin ont été évalués. Les résultats de cette recherche suggèrent que les musiciens ont des temps de réaction significativement plus rapide pour des stimulations auditives, tactiles, et audiotactiles. La seconde étude avait comme objectif d’évaluer l’interaction d’informations audiotactiles temporelle et spectrale chez les musiciens. Les interactions audiotactiles de 13 musiciens et de 17 membres d’un groupe témoin ont été évaluées à l’aide d’illusions multisensorielles. Les résultats de cette recherche suggèrent que seulement l’interaction audiotactile temporelle est significative différente entre les groupes. La troisième étude avait pour objectif d’évaluer la localisation spatiale tactile chez les musiciens. La localisation spatiale tactile chez 17 musiciens et 20 membres d’un groupe témoin a été évaluée à l’aide de tâche de jugement d’ordre temporel tactile. Les résultats de cette recherche suggèrent que les musiciens ont un taux d’erreur plus élevé pour localiser des stimulations tactiles quand leurs bras sont croisés, mais qu’ils ont des temps de réaction plus rapides pour cette tâche. Généralement, les résultats de ces recherches suggèrent qu’un entrainement musical à long terme améliore les capacités tactiles unisensorielles et multisensorielles, mais seulement pour certaines tâches. D’autres études sont requises afin de mieux comprendre les facteurs de l’entrainement musical menant à ces changements. / Playing a musical instrument requires the integration of information from multiple senses. The long-term sensory training from playing a musical instrument for many years has effects on cortical networks and behavioral abilities. Touch is a sensory modality that seems to be altered by musical training, but little research has focused on the tactile abilities of musicians. The objective of this thesis is to assess non-musical unisensory and multisensory tactile abilities in musicians using behavioral methodologies. The first study aimed at evaluating simple auditory, tactile, and audiotactile reaction times in musicians. Reaction times of 16 musicians and 19 controls were evaluated. The results of this study suggest that musicians have significantly faster response times for auditory, tactile, and audiotactile stimulations. The second study aimed at evaluating the integration of temporal and spectral audiotactile information in musicians. Audiotactile interactions of 13 musicians and 17 controls were evaluated using multisensory illusions. The results of this research suggest that only temporal audiotactile interactions are different for musicians. The third study aimed at assessing temporal tactile localization in musicians using tactile temporal order judgement task. Temporal tactile localization was evaluated in 17 musicians and 20 members of a control group. The results of this study suggest that musicians have a higher error rate to localize tactile stimulations when their arms are crossed but generally have faster reaction times for this task. All of these results suggest that musicians have altered tactile abilities. Overall, these results suggest that long-term musical training alters specific unisensory and multisensory tactile abilities. Further studies are required to better understand the factors of musical training leading to these changes and why certain interactions remain unchanged.