Is that near my hand? Multisensory representation of peripersonal space in human intraparietal sulcus.

Full Abstract

Our ability to interact with the immediate surroundings depends not only on an adequate representation of external space but also on our ability to represent the location of objects with respect to our own body and especially to our hands. Indeed, electrophysiological studies in monkeys revealed multimodal neurons with spatially corresponding tactile and visual receptive fields in a number of brain areas, suggesting a representation of visual peripersonal space with respect to the body. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we localized areas in human intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and lateral occipital complex (LOC) that represent nearby visual space with respect to the hands (perihand space), by contrasting the response to a ball moving near-to versus far-from the hands. Furthermore, by independently manipulating sensory information about the hand, in the visual (using a dummy hand) and proprioceptive domains (by changing the unseen hand position), we determined the sensory contributions to the representation of hand-centered space. In the posterior IPS, the visual contribution was dominant, overriding proprioceptive information. Surprisingly, regions within LOC also displayed visually dominant, hand-related activation. In contrast, the anterior IPS was characterized by a proprioceptive representation of the hand, as well as showing tactile hand-specific activation, suggesting a homology with monkey parietal hand-centered areas. We therefore suggest that, whereas cortical regions within the posterior IPS and LOC represent hand-centered space in a predominantly visual manner, the anterior IPS uses multisensory information in representing perihand space.

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Author information

Author/s: Makin, Tamar R (TR); Holmes, Nicholas P (NP); Zohary, Ehud (E);

Affiliation: Neurobiology Department, Life Sciences Institute, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel. tamarmakin(-atsign-)pob.huji.ac.il

Journal and publication information

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

Journal: The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience (J Neurosci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Jan; vol 27 (issue 4) : pp 731-40

Dates: Created 2007/01/25; Completed 2007/02/21; Revised 2007/05/02;

PMID: 17251412, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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

Comments and Corrections

CommentIn: J Neurosci. 2007 Apr 4;27(14):3616-7. (PMID: 17409225)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Brain Mapping - methods
Female
Hand - physiology
Humans
Male
Parietal Lobe - physiology

Personal Space
Photic Stimulation - methods
Physical Stimulation - methods
Proprioception - physiology
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Touch - physiology
Visual Perception - physiology

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