QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (57) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Braun, C. Articles by Taub, E. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Braun, C. Articles by Taub, E.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

The Journal of Neuroscience, January 1, 2000, 20(1):446-450

Differential Activation in Somatosensory Cortex for Different Discrimination Tasks

Christoph Braun¹, Renate Schweizer¹, Thomas Elbert², Niels Birbaumer¹, and Edward Taub^{3, 4}

¹ Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, D-72074 Tübingen, Germany, ² Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany, ³ Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35294, and ⁴ Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Birmingham, Alabama 35233

Maps of the body surface in somatosensory cortex have been shown to be highly plastic, altering their configuration in response to changes in use of body parts. The current study investigated alterations in the functional organization of the human somatosensory cortex resulting from massed practice. Over a period of 4 weeks, subjects were given synchronous tactile stimulation of thumb (D1) and little finger (D5) for 1 hr/d. They had to identify the orientation of the stimuli. Neuroelectric source localization based on high-resolution EEG revealed that, when subjects received passive tactile stimulation of D1 or D5, the representations of the fingers in primary somatosensory cortex were closer together after training than before. There was also an apparently correlative tendency to anomalously mislocalize near-threshold tactile stimuli equally to the distant finger costimulated during training rather than preferentially to the finger nearest to the finger stimulated in a post-training test. However, when the stimulus discrimination had to be made, neuroelectric source imaging revealed that the digital representations of D1 and D5 were further apart after training than before. Thus, the same series of prolonged repetitive stimulations produced two different opposite effects on the spatial relationship of the cortical representations of the digits, suggesting that differential activation in the same region of somatosensory cortex is specific to different tasks.

Key words: cortical reorganization; plasticity; learning; somatosensory evoked potentials; dipole source analysis; tactile sensation threshold; human

---

Copyright © 2000 Society for Neuroscience  0270-6474/0/201446-05$05.00/0

This article has been cited by other articles:

				R. O. Duncan and G. M. Boynton Tactile Hyperacuity Thresholds Correlate with Finger Maps in Primary Somatosensory Cortex (S1) Cereb Cortex, December 1, 2007; 17(12): 2878 - 2891. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. C. Stoeckel, B. Pollok, O. W. Witte, R. J. Seitz, and A. Schnitzler Shrinkage of Somatosensory Hand Area in Subjects With Upper Extremity Dysmelia Revealed by Magnetoencephalography J Neurophysiol, February 1, 2005; 93(2): 813 - 818. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. Rosenkranz and J. C Rothwell The effect of sensory input and attention on the sensorimotor organization of the hand area of the human motor cortex J. Physiol., November 15, 2004; 561(1): 307 - 320. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Y. Ohki and K. Watanabe Dependence of Reactive Responses in Human Bimanual Finger Movements on Sensory Feedback and Auditory Cues J Neurophysiol, March 1, 2004; 91(3): 1260 - 1270. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. Wiech, R.-T. Kiefer, S. Topfner, H. Preissl, C. Braun, K. Unertl, H. Flor, and N. Birbaumer A Placebo-Controlled Randomized Crossover Trial of the N-Methyl-D-Aspartic Acid Receptor Antagonist, Memantine, in Patients with Chronic Phantom Limb Pain Anesth. Analg., February 1, 2004; 98(2): 408 - 413. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A.F. Apelbaum and M.A. Chaput Rats Habituated to Chronic Feeding Restriction Show a Smaller Increase in Olfactory Bulb Reactivity Compared to Newly Fasted Rats Chem Senses, June 1, 2003; 28(5): 389 - 395. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				F. Vega-Bermudez and K. O. Johnson Spatial acuity after digit amputation Brain, June 1, 2002; 125(6): 1256 - 1264. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. Braun, U. Heinz, R. Schweizer, K. Wiech, N. Birbaumer, and H. Topka Dynamic organization of the somatosensory cortex induced by motor activity Brain, November 1, 2001; 124(11): 2259 - 2267. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. Pleger, H. R. Dinse, P. Ragert, P. Schwenkreis, J. P. Malin, and M. Tegenthoff Shifts in cortical representations predict human discrimination improvement PNAS, September 26, 2001; (2001) 191176298. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. J. Anderson and A. J. Vingrys Small Samples: Does Size Matter? Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., June 1, 2001; 42(7): 1411 - 1413. [Full Text]

				B. Pleger, H. R. Dinse, P. Ragert, P. Schwenkreis, J. P. Malin, and M. Tegenthoff Shifts in cortical representations predict human discrimination improvement PNAS, October 9, 2001; 98(21): 12255 - 12260. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help