Similar Somatotopy for Active and Passive Digit Representation in Primary Somatosensory Cortex

Overview

Journal Hum Brain Mapp

Publisher Wiley

Specialty Neurology

Date 2023 May 5

PMID 37145934

Authors

Zeena-Britt Sanders

Harriet Dempsey-Jones

Daan B Wesselink

Laura R Edmondson

Alexander M Puckett

Hannes P Saal

Tamar R Makin

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Scientists traditionally use passive stimulation to examine the organisation of primary somatosensory cortex (SI). However, given the close, bidirectional relationship between the somatosensory and motor systems, active paradigms involving free movement may uncover alternative SI representational motifs. Here, we used 7 Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare hallmark features of SI digit representation between active and passive tasks which were unmatched on task or stimulus properties. The spatial location of digit maps, somatotopic organisation, and inter-digit representational structure were largely consistent between tasks, indicating representational consistency. We also observed some task differences. The active task produced higher univariate activity and multivariate representational information content (inter-digit distances). The passive task showed a trend towards greater selectivity for digits versus their neighbours. Our findings highlight that, while the gross features of SI functional organisation are task invariant, it is important to also consider motor contributions to digit representation.

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