Human primary visual cortex and lateral geniculate nucleus activation during visual imagery.
The functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) technique can be robustly used to map functional activation of the visual pathway including the primary visual cortex (V1), the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), and other nuclei of humans during visual perception stimulation. One of the major controversies in visual neuroscience is whether lower-order visual areas involve the visual imagery process. This issue was examined using fMRI at high magnetic field. It was demonstrated for the first time that the LGN was activated during visual imagery process in the human brain together with V1 and other activation. There was a tight coupling of the activation between V1 and the LGN during visual imagery.
Chen
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W
Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, Department of Radiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455, USA.
Kato
T
T
Zhu
X H
XH
Ogawa
S
S
Tank
D W
DW
Ugurbil
K
K
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005829:Geniculate Bodies / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D013787:Thalamic Nuclei / Q000502:physiology; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*