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Let’s say an experimenter has an electrode that can give a shock to a single axon. She takes that electrode and zaps an axon connected to thermoreceptors in the hand of her subject.

I) What would the subject’s perception of the stimulus be?

II) Why?

III) If she zaps that axon AND ONLY THAT AXON so hard that it destroys the axon, would the subject feel pain?

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    $\begingroup$ Hi! Welcome to the site. The question you have asked is classified as homework question. You need to show your efforts - what you thought, what you tried to search, etc. You should write what you think can be the answer. $\endgroup$
    – biogirl
    Commented Mar 16, 2014 at 15:51

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I and II depend on the type of electrical signal applied to the axon. for III, most receptors can perceive other sense as well, so for example striking a vision receptor may produce the perception of light (even in complete darkness) - my guess is the you would feel pain, even if you could isolate the destructive signal away from nearby pain receptors.

search "action potential" in duckduckgo.com, it will get you going.

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  • $\begingroup$ Can you please add some references? $\endgroup$
    – Chris ♦
    Commented Oct 1, 2014 at 17:52

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