We studied the influence of temporal parameters on localization of touch versus pain in the palmar skin of the human hand. A monofilament was used for tactile stimulation (n=14) and a thulium laser for inducing C fibre-mediated pain (n=8). Stimuli were applied sequentially to determine discrimination between successive stimulus sites. The interstimulus interval (ISI) varied from 1 to 9 s. Localization threshold was about two times higher for heat pain than touch (13.0±0.8 mm vs. 6.9±0.4 mm; mean±S.E.M., respectively). The localization threshold for pain, but not touch, decreased with prolongation of the ISI from 1 to 7-9 s (F_3,80=6.36, p=0.0006), and it remained higher for pain even at the ISI of 9 s. The response time was longer for pain than touch (1857±100 ms vs. 1165±96 ms, respectively), and it increased with an increase in the ISI (F_3,80=3.37, p<0.04), independent of the modality (F_3,80=0.38). Discriminative capacity, as assessed by the receiver operating characteristics curve, was markedly better for touch than pain (e.g. at the interstimulus distance of 10 mm, the 95% confidence limits of the areas under the receiver operating characteristics curves for touch and pain were not overlapping at any of the ISIs). The discriminative capacity decreased with an increase of the ISI, but only for touch (F_3,364= 7.34, p<0.0001). The results indicate that localization is more accurate for touch than pain. Temporal summation of C fibre-evoked pain contributes to the reduced accuracy of pain localization if the ISI is ≤ 3 s. Additionally, temporal factors dissociatively influence the response strategy in the tactile versus pain localization task as indicated by changes in the response time, false alarm rate and discriminative capacity with the prolongation of the ISI from 1 to 9 s. Due to this strategy change, localization threshold for touch remains constant at prolonged ISIs, in spite of a decrease in discriminative capacity.