A segregated neural pathway for prefrontal top-down control of tactile discrimination.
Cereb Cortex
; 25(1): 161-6, 2015 Jan.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-23960209
ABSTRACT
It has proven difficult to separate functional areas in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), an area implicated in attention, memory, and distraction handling. Here, we assessed in healthy human subjects whether PFC subareas have different roles in top-down regulation of sensory functions by determining how the neural links between the PFC and the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) modulate tactile perceptions. Anatomical connections between the S1 representation area of the cutaneous test site and the PFC were determined using probabilistic tractography. Single-pulse navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation of the middle frontal gyrus-S1 link, but not that of the superior frontal gyrus-S1 link, impaired the ability to discriminate between single and twin tactile pulses. The impairment occurred within a restricted time window and skin area. The spatially and temporally organized top-down control of tactile discrimination through a segregated PFC-S1 pathway suggests functional specialization of PFC subareas in fine-tuned regulation of information processing.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Córtex Somatossensorial
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Córtex Pré-Frontal
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Discriminação Psicológica
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Percepção do Tato
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Adult
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Female
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Humans
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Male
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2015
Tipo de documento:
Article