A functional-magnetic-resonance-imaging investigation of cortical activation from moving vibrotactile stimuli on the fingertip

Using a 100-element tactile stimulator on the fingertip during functional-magnetic-resonance imaging, brain areas were identified that were selectively activated by a moving vibrotactile stimulus (the sensation of a moving line being dragged over the fingertip). Activation patterns elicited by tacti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2009-02, Vol.125 (2), p.1033-1039
Main Authors: SUMMERS, Ian R, FRANCIS, Susan T, BOWTELL, Richard W, MCGLONE, Francis P, CLEMENCE, Matthew
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Brain Mapping - methods
Cerebral Cortex - physiology
Fingers - innervation
Humans
Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects)
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Medical sciences
Motion Perception
Nervous system
Neural Pathways - physiology
Pattern Recognition, Physiological
Physical Stimulation
Radiodiagnosis. Nmr imagery. Nmr spectrometry
Signal Detection, Psychological
Touch Perception
Vibration
Visual Perception
Young Adult
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Summary:Using a 100-element tactile stimulator on the fingertip during functional-magnetic-resonance imaging, brain areas were identified that were selectively activated by a moving vibrotactile stimulus (the sensation of a moving line being dragged over the fingertip). Activation patterns elicited by tactile motion, contrasted to an equivalent stationary stimulus, were compared in six human subjects with those generated by a moving visual stimulus, contrasted to an equivalent stationary stimulus. Results provide further evidence for a neuroanatomical convergence of tactile-motion processing and visual-motion processing in humans. The sites of this convergence are found to lie in the middle temporal complex (hMT+V5), an area with known specialization for visual-motion processing, and in the intraparietal area of the posterior parietal cortex. In an advance on previous studies, the present study includes separate delineation of activations for moving tactile stimuli and activations for moving visual stimuli. Results suggest that the two sets of activations are not entirely collocated. Compared to the visual-motion activations, the tactile-motion activations are found to lie nearer the midline of the brain and further superior.
ISSN:0001-4966
1520-8524
DOI:10.1121/1.3056399