ISSN:
1432-1106
Keywords:
Postcentral gyrus
;
Area 1
;
Finger representation
;
Neural integration
;
Monkeys
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
Summary The representation of the hand and fingers in area 1 of the first somatosensory cortex was studied in conscious monkeys by recording single neuronal activity. The results are as follows. (1) We found multi-finger type receptive fields which cover more than one finger discontinuously or wide-field type ones which cover both finger and palmar skin or two halves of the palmar skin together. Multi-finger type receptive fields were also found in some joint manipulation neurons. Multifinger or wide-field type receptive fields were found in nearly 40% of area 1 neurons. The rate was even higher, up to 70%, in the medial part of the cortical finger region. Consequently, the finger representation in area 1 was less discretely somatotopic than that in area 3b. (2) The submodality content of area 1 was almost identical to that of area 3b: 74.5% and 20.9% of identified neurons were, respectively, cutaneous and deep. The distribution of neurons with different submodalities overlapped in area 1. (3) Among area 1 neurons with multi-finger type receptive fields, response characteristics of those with inhibitory receptive fields, those with directional selectivity to moving stimuli, and those with converging afferent inputs, were studied in detail. Evidence is presented to suggest that information from different parts of the body, or from the same body parts but different afferent sources, is integrated in area 1. (4) It is proposed that, within the SI, area 1 is the initial stage of integration of sensory information coming from the thalamus and from area 3a or 3b via cortico-cortical connections.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00237869
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