Circadian fluctuations in three types of sensory modules in healthy subjects.

This study was designed to observe and compare the circadian fluctuations in tactile sense, joint reposition sense and two-point discrimination in healthy subjects. Twenty-one healthy adult subjects received perceptual ability tests through these three different sensory modules at approximately 9:00, 13:00 and 18:00 in a day. The distribution of ranking for perceptual ability was significantly different among the three different time points in each individual, with highest perceptual ability in the evening compared with noon and morning, in terms of tactile sense and two-point discrimination. These findings suggest that the perceptual ability of healthy subjects fluctuates according to the time points in a day.