Direct evidence for a parietal-frontal pathway subserving spatial awareness in humans.
Intraoperative electrical stimulation, which temporarily inactivates restricted regions during brain surgery, can map cognitive functions in humans with spatiotemporal resolution unmatched by other methods. Using this technique, we found that stimulation of the right inferior parietal lobule or the caudal superior temporal gyrus, but not of its rostral portion, determined rightward deviations on line bisection. However, the strongest shifts occurred with subcortical stimulation. Fiber tracking identified the stimulated site as a section of the superior occipitofrontal fasciculus, a poorly known parietal-frontal pathway. These findings suggest that parietal-frontal communication is necessary for the symmetrical processing of the visual scene.
Thiebaut de Schotten
Michel
M
INSERM Unit 610, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, 75013 Paris, France.
Urbanski
Marika
M
Duffau
Hugues
H
Volle
Emmanuelle
E
Lévy
Richard
R
Dubois
Bruno
B
Bartolomeo
Paolo
P
D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D005910:Glioma / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology