title: Vision of the body modulates processing in primary somatosensory cortex.
abstract: Viewing the body affects somatosensory processing, even when entirely non-informative about stimulation. While several studies have reported effects of viewing the body on cortical processing of touch and pain, the neural locus of this modulation remains unclear. We investigated whether seeing the body modulates processing in primary somatosensory cortex (SI) by measuring short-latency somatosensory evoked-potentials (SEPs) elicited by electrical stimulation of the median nerve while participants looked directly at their stimulated hand or at a non-hand object. Vision of the body produced a clear reduction of the P27 component of the SEP recorded over contralateral parietal channels, which is known to reflect processing in SI. These results provide the first direct evidence that seeing the body modulates processing in SI and demonstrate that vision can affect even the earliest stages of cortical somatosensory processing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, United Kingdom; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, United Kingdom. m.longo@bbk.ac.uk
authors.forename: Matthew R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Longo
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pernigo
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Haggard
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008475:Median Nerve / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*