title: Whole brain mapping of visual and tactile convergence in the macaque monkey.
abstract: The proposal that sensory processing is achieved in segregated anatomical pathways has been profoundly revisited following the description of cross-modal anatomical connections both at higher and at lower processing levels. However, an understanding of the cortical extent of these long range cross-modal functional influences has been missing. Here, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to map, in the non-human primate brain, the cortical regions which are activated by both visual and tactile stimulations. We describe an unprecedented pattern of functional visuo-tactile convergence, encompassing both low-level visual and somatosensory areas and multiple higher-order associative areas. We also show that the profile of this convergence depends on the physical properties of the mapping stimuli, indicating that visuo-tactile convergence is most probably even more prevailing than what we actually describe. Overall, these observations substantiate the view that the brain is massively multisensory.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Neuroscience Cognitive, CNRS UMR 5229, Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, 67 Bd Pinel, 69675 Bron cedex, France.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Guipponi
authors.affiliation: Centre de Neuroscience Cognitive, CNRS UMR 5229, Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, 67 Bd Pinel, 69675 Bron cedex, France.
authors.forename: Justine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cléry
authors.affiliation: Centre de Neuroscience Cognitive, CNRS UMR 5229, Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, 67 Bd Pinel, 69675 Bron cedex, France.
authors.forename: Soline
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Odouard
authors.affiliation: Centre de Neuroscience Cognitive, CNRS UMR 5229, Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, 67 Bd Pinel, 69675 Bron cedex, France.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wardak
authors.affiliation: Centre de Neuroscience Cognitive, CNRS UMR 5229, Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, 67 Bd Pinel, 69675 Bron cedex, France. Electronic address: benhamed@isc.cnrs.fr.
authors.forename: Suliann
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ben Hamed
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D055698:Touch Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Context dependent; Functional connectivity; Macaque; Monkey fMRI; Multisensory