Early integration of bilateral touch in the primary somatosensory cortex (original) (raw)
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Bilateral representations of touch in the primary somatosensory cortex
Cognitive neuropsychology, 2016
According to current textbook knowledge, the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) supports unilateral tactile representations, whereas structures beyond SI, in particular the secondary somatosensory cortex (SII), support bilateral tactile representations. However, dexterous and well-coordinated bimanual motor tasks require early integration of bilateral tactile information. Sequential processing, first of unilateral and subsequently of bilateral sensory information, might not be sufficient to accomplish these tasks. This view of sequential processing in the somatosensory system might therefore be questioned, at least for demanding bimanual tasks. Evidence from the last 15 years is forcing a revision of this textbook notion. Studies in animals and humans indicate that SI is more than a simple relay for unilateral sensory information and, together with SII, contributes to the integration of somatosensory inputs from both sides of the body. Here, we review a series of recent works from ou...
Sequences of cortical activation for tactile pattern discrimination using magnetoencephalography
2009
To observe sequential stages in tactile pattern discrimination and their modification with and without attention, we used whole-head anatomically constrained magnetoencephalography to spatiotemporally map brain responses. Eight, normal, right-handed participants discriminated between two patterns presented on the palm. Latencies of neural activity were determined from stimulus contact with the palm. Early cortical activation moved from sensorimotor cortex (SM1) to secondary somatosensory cortex (SII), Broca's area (BA), and superior parietal cortex by 65 ms. It continued bilaterally to temporal and frontal poles by 290 ms. Subtraction of nonattended from attended conditions removed primarily the early contralateral sensory components. There was some indication of a preferred order of sensory processing that may express and optimize hemispheric computational specializations. Results indicate similar functional organizations for tactile and visual pattern recognition.
Experimental Brain Research, 2008
We used magnetoencephalography (MEG) in 10 healthy human subjects to study cortical responses to tactile stimuli applied to the fingertips of digits 2-5 of the right hand. Each stimulus lasted 50 ms and was produced by airdriven elastic membranes. Four-hundred stimuli were delivered on each finger in three temporal patterns (conditions). In the ''Discrete'' condition, stimuli were applied to each finger repetitively with an interstimulus interval (ISI) of 1-2 s. In the ''Continuous'' condition, stimuli were applied to the fingers sequentially as four-stimulus trains with zero ISI and 1-2 s intervening between trains. Finally, in the ''Gap'' condition, stimuli were applied as in the Continuous condition but with an ISI of 50 ms. A sensation of tactile motion across fingers (digit 2 ? digit 5) was reported by all subjects in the Continuous and Gap conditions. Cortical responses were extracted as single equivalent current dipoles over a period of 1 s following stimulus onset. In all three conditions, initial responses in left primary somatosensory cortex (SI) were observed *20 to 50 ms after stimulus onset and were followed by additional left SI responses and bilateral responses in the secondary somatosensory cortex (SII). In addition, in the Continuous and Gap conditions, there was an activation of the precentral gyrus, the temporal aspects of which depended on the temporal relation of the administered stimuli, as follows. An ISI of 0 ms led to activation of the precentral gyrus shortly after the second stimulation, whereas an ISI of 50 ms led to activation of the precentral gyrus after the third stimulation. The current findings support results from previous studies on temporal activity patterns in SI and SII, verify the participation of the precentral gyrus during tactile motion perception and, in addition, reveal aspects of integration of sequential sensory stimulations over nonadjacent areas as well as temporal activity patterns in the postcentral and precentral gyri.
2012
Cortical adaptation in the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) has been probed using different stimulation modalities and recording techniques, in both human and animal studies. In contrast, considerably less knowledge has been gained about the adaptation profiles in other areas of the cortical somatosensory network. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), we examined the patterns of short-term adaptation for evoked responses in SI and somatosensory association areas during tactile stimulation applied to the glabrous skin of the hand. Cutaneous stimuli were delivered as trains of serial pulses with a constant frequency of 2 Hz and 4 Hz in separate runs, and a constant inter-train interval of 5 s. The unilateral stimuli elicited transient responses to the serial pulses in the train, with several response components that were separated by independent component analysis. Subsequent source reconstruction techniques identified regional generators in the contralateral SI and somatosensory association areas in the posterior parietal cortex (PPC). Activity in the bilateral secondary somatosensory cortex (i.e., SII/PV) was also identified, although less consistently across subjects. The dynamics of the evoked activity in each area and the frequency-dependent adaptation effects were assessed from the changes in the relative amplitude of serial responses in each train. We show that the adaptation profiles in SI and PPC areas can be quantitatively characterized from neuromagnetic recordings using tactile stimulation, with the sensitivity to repetitive stimulation increasing from SI to PPC. A similar approach for SII/PV has proven less straightforward, potentially due to the tendency of these areas to respond selectively to certain stimuli.
Seeing touch in the somatosensory cortex: A TMS study of the visual perception of touch
Human Brain Mapping, 2011
Recent studies suggest the existence of a visuo-tactile mirror system, comprising the primary (SI) and secondary (SII) somatosensory cortices, which matches observed touch with felt touch. Here, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) was used to determine whether SI or SII play a functional role in the visual processing of tactile events. Healthy participants performed a visual discrimination task with tactile stimuli (a finger touching a hand) and a control task (a finger moving without touching). During both tasks, rTMS was applied over either SI or SII, and to the occipital cortex. rTMS over SI selectively reduced subject performance for interpreting whether a contralateral visual tactile stimulus contains a tactile event, whereas SII stimulation impaired visual processing regardless of the tactile component. These findings provide evidence for a multimodal sensory-motor system with mirror properties, where somatic and visual properties of action converge. SI, a cortical area traditionally viewed as modality-specific, is selectively implicated in the visual processing of touch. These results are in line with the existence of a sensory mirror system mediating the embodied simulation concept. Hum Brain Mapp 00:000-000,
Transient suppression of ipsilateral primary somatosensory cortex during tactile finger stimulation
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2006
The whole human primary somatosensory (SI) cortex is activated by contralateral tactile stimuli, whereas its subarea 2 displays neuronal responses also to ipsilateral stimuli. Here we report on a transient deactivation of area 3b of the ipsilateral SI during long-lasting tactile stimulation. We collected functional magnetic resonance imaging data with a 3 T scanner from 10 healthy adult subjects while tactile pulses were delivered at 1, 4, or 10 Hz in 25 s blocks to three right-hand fingers. In the contralateral SI cortex, activation [positive blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) response] outlasted the stimulus blocks by 20 s, with an average duration of 45 s. In contrast, a transient deactivation (negative BOLD response) occurred in the ipsilateral rolandic cortex with an average duration of 18 s. Additional recordings on 10 subjects confirmed that the deactivation was not limited to the right SI but occurred in the SI cortex ipsilateral to the stimulated hand. Moreover, the p...
Tactile information from the human hand reaches the ipsilateral primary somatosensory cortex
Neuroscience Letters, 1995
Neuromagnetic responses to median nerve stimulation were studied in six healthy fight-handed subjects. In the rest condition, only the fight and left median nerves were alternately stimulated at the wrists. In two other conditions, continuous superficial tactile stimulation was concurrently applied to either the left or fight hand. Tactile stimulation of palm and fingers of one hand enhanced, in the ipsilateral primary somatosensory cortex (SI), responses to median nerve stimulation of the other hand. This effect was stronger in the left than the fight SI. Our data provide evidence in humans for the access of cutaneous information from the hands to ipsilateral SI, probably via excitatory transcallosal pathways. This interhemispheric information transfer may represent a neurophysiological substrate of somatosensory fusion between the hands.
Cortical processing of near-threshold tactile stimuli: An MEG study
Psychophysiology, 2010
In the present study we tested the applicability of a paired-stimulus paradigm for the investigation of near-threshold (NT) stimulus processing in the somatosensory system using magnetoencephalography. Cortical processing of the NT stimuli was studied indirectly by investigating the impact of NT stimuli on the source activity of succeeding suprathreshold test stimuli. We hypothesized that cortical responses evoked by test stimuli are reduced due to the preactivation of the same finger representation by the preceding NT stimulus. We observed attenuation of the magnetic responses in the secondary somatosensory (SII) cortex, with stronger decreases for perceived than for missed NT stimuli. Our data suggest that processing in the primary somatosensory cortex including recovery lasts for o200 ms. Conversely, the occupancy of SII lasts !500 ms, which points to its role in temporal integration and conscious perception of sensory input.
Interaction between afferent input from fingers in human somatosensory cortex
Brain Research, 1995
We recorded somatosensory evoked magnetic fields from eight healthy subjects with a 122-channel whole-scalp SQUID magnetometer. The stimulus sequence consisted of 'standard' stimuli (85%) delivered to palmar side of the left thumb with an interstimulus interval of 0.6 s and of 'deviants' (15%), randomly interspersed among the standards, to little finger, and vice versa. Both stimuli activated four source areas: the contralateral primary somatosensory cortex (SI), the contra-and ipsilateral secondary somatosensory cortices (SII), and the contralateral posterior parietal cortex (PPC). The short-latency (20-40 ms) responses originated in the SI cortex, whereas long-latency responses arose from all 4 areas. At SII and PPC, the deviant stimuli elicited larger responses when presented alone, without intervening standards, than among standards. This implies interaction between afferent impulses from the two fingers and/or partly intermingled cortical representations. Our findings show, in agreement with animal data, different excitatory/inhibitory balance in the various somatosensory areas.