Research article summary (published 13 Nov 2002):

MEG study of long-term cortical reorganization of sensorimotor areas with respect to using chopsticks.

Full Abstract

The movements required to use chopsticks are overlearned and routine in Asians. Most non-Asians, on the other hand, typically have difficulty performing this unfamiliar manual activity, and have to focus their attention on the movements required to use chopsticks adequately. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG) we compared the cortical activation of highly trained Asian chopstick users to the activation of Europeans who only occasionally used chopsticks, while they performed the same tasks with chopsticks or a control task of simple tapping of the same fingers. The data were analyzed using the new method of synthetic aperture magnetometry (SAM). In Europeans there was a significantly higher ratio of spectral power in the higher gamma frequency band (60-80 Hz) over the sensorimotor area compared to the Asian subjects. From these results we conclude that the high gamma band activity in the sensorimotor area may reflect focused attention and functional reorganization of the cortical network with respect to sensorimotor experience.

Author information

Author/s: Ishii, Ryouhei (R); Schulz, Matthias (M); Xiang, Jing (J); Takeda, Masatoshi (M); Shinosaki, Kazuhiro (K); Stuss, Donald T (DT); Pantev, Christo (C);

Affiliation: The Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, University of Toronto, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Neuroreport (Neuroreport), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Nov; vol 13 (issue 16) : pp 2155-9

Dates: Created 2002/11/19; Completed 2003/04/17; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12438945, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

Comments and Corrections

ErratumIn: Neuroreport. 2003 Mar 24;14(4):657.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult Asia Eating Europe Fingers Humans

Magnetics Magnetoencephalography Motor Cortex - physiology Motor Skills - physiology Movement - physiology Somatosensory Cortex - physiology

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