title: Parietal somatosensory association cortex mediates affective blindsight.
abstract: To investigate the neural substrates underlying emotional feelings in the absence of a conscious stimulus percept, we presented a visual stimulus in the blind field of partially cortically blind patients and measured cortical activity (by functional magnetic resonance imaging, fMRI) before and after the stimulus had been paired with an aversive event. After pairing, self-reported negative emotional valence and blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses in somatosensory association areas were enhanced, whereby somatosensory activity predicted highly corresponding reported feelings and startle reflex amplitudes across subjects. Our data provide direct evidence that cortical activity representing physical emotional states governs emotional feelings.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Gartenstrasse 29, 72074 Tuebingen, Germany. silke.anders@med.uni-tuebingen.de
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anders
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Birbaumer
authors.forename: Bettina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sadowski
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Erb
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mader
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Grodd
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lotze
mesh_terms: D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D001244:Association; D019575:Blindness, Cortical / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology