Moving tactile stimuli of fingers are integrated in the intraparietal and inferior parietal cortices.
When two cylinders are passively moved in-phase on the volar surface of the right second and third fingers, human subjects estimate the stimuli to originate from one object, whereas two separate objects are estimated for out-of-phase stimuli. While five blindfolded subjects performed this estimation task, brain activity was measured by fMRI. The in-phase stimuli activated the left intraparietal and inferior parietal areas significantly more than did out-of-phase stimuli. These parietal regions may play important roles in the integration of moving tactile stimuli that are independently provided on plural fingers, from which subjects internally construct a single object.
Kitada
Ryo
R
Faculty of Human Studies, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501 Japan.
Kochiyama
Takanori
T
Hashimoto
Toshihiro
T
Naito
Eiichi
E
Matsumura
Michikazu
M
D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005385:Fingers / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009038:Motion; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D010812:Physical Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D012016:Reference Values; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology*