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

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, January 24, 2007, 27(4):731-740; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3653-06.2007

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Data 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 Related articles in J. Neurosci. Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI 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 ISI Web of Science (4) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Makin, T. R. Articles by Zohary, E. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Makin, T. R. Articles by Zohary, E.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Is That Near My Hand? Multisensory Representation of Peripersonal Space in Human Intraparietal Sulcus

Tamar R. Makin,¹ Nicholas P. Holmes,³ and Ehud Zohary^1,2

¹Neurobiology Department, Life Sciences Institute, and ²Interdisciplinary Center for Neural Computation, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel, and ³Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale Unité 534, Espace et Action, 69676 Bron, France

Correspondence should be addressed to Tamar R. Makin, Neurobiology Department, Life Sciences Institute, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel. Email: tamarmakin{at}pob.huji.ac.il

Our ability to interact with the immediate surroundings depends not only on an adequate representation of external space but also on our ability to represent the location of objects with respect to our own body and especially to our hands. Indeed, electrophysiological studies in monkeys revealed multimodal neurons with spatially corresponding tactile and visual receptive fields in a number of brain areas, suggesting a representation of visual peripersonal space with respect to the body. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we localized areas in human intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and lateral occipital complex (LOC) that represent nearby visual space with respect to the hands (perihand space), by contrasting the response to a ball moving near-to versus far-from the hands. Furthermore, by independently manipulating sensory information about the hand, in the visual (using a dummy hand) and proprioceptive domains (by changing the unseen hand position), we determined the sensory contributions to the representation of hand-centered space. In the posterior IPS, the visual contribution was dominant, overriding proprioceptive information. Surprisingly, regions within LOC also displayed visually dominant, hand-related activation. In contrast, the anterior IPS was characterized by a proprioceptive representation of the hand, as well as showing tactile hand-specific activation, suggesting a homology with monkey parietal hand-centered areas. We therefore suggest that, whereas cortical regions within the posterior IPS and LOC represent hand-centered space in a predominantly visual manner, the anterior IPS uses multisensory information in representing perihand space.

Key words: body schema; fMRI; LOC; proprioception; rubber hand; vision

---

Received Aug. 23, 2006; revised Nov. 8, 2006; accepted Nov. 28, 2006.

Correspondence should be addressed to Tamar R. Makin, Neurobiology Department, Life Sciences Institute, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel. Email: tamarmakin{at}pob.huji.ac.il

Related articles in J. Neurosci.:

Human Peripersonal Space: Evidence from Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Tobias Schicke
J. Neurosci. 2007 27: 3616-3617. [Full Text]  

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. Schicke Human Peripersonal Space: Evidence from Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging J. Neurosci., April 4, 2007; 27(14): 3616 - 3617. [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help