Scripps VIVO scripps research logo

  • Index
  • Log in
  • Home
  • People
  • Organizations
  • Research
  • Events
Search form

Noninvasive somatosensory homunculus mapping in humans by using a large-array biomagnetometer

Academic Article
uri icon
  • Overview
  • Identity
  • Additional Document Info
  • View All
scroll to property group menus

Overview

authors

  • Yang, T. T.
  • Gallen, C. C.
  • Schwartz, B. J.
  • Bloom, Floyd

publication date

  • April 1993

journal

  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America  Journal

abstract

  • To validate the feasibility of precise noninvasive functional mapping in humans, a large-array biomagnetometer was used to map the somatosensory cortical locations corresponding to numerous distinct tactile sites on the fingers, hand, arm, and face in different subjects. Source localizations were calculated by using a single equivalent current dipole (ECD) model. Dipole localizations were transposed upon the corresponding subject's magnetic resonance image (MRI) to resolve the anatomic locus of the individual dipoles within a given subject. Biomagnetic measurements demonstrated that (i) there were distinct separations between the ECD locations representing discrete sites on the face and hand; (ii) the ECD localizations from facial sites clustered in a region inferior to ECD localizations from hand and digit sites; and (iii) there was clear spatial resolution of ECD locations representing closely spaced tactile sites on the hand and face. The ability of magnetoencephalography (MEG) to provide high-resolution spatial maps of the somatosensory system noninvasively in humans should make MEG a useful tool to define the normal or pathological organization of the human somatosensory system and should provide an approach to the rapid detection of neuroplasticity.

subject areas

  • Adult
  • Brain
  • Brain Mapping
  • Cerebral Cortex
  • Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory
  • Face
  • Functional Laterality
  • Humans
  • Magnetics
  • Male
  • Models, Neurological
  • Skin
  • Touch
scroll to property group menus

Identity

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0027-8424

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1073/pnas.90.7.3098

PubMed ID

  • 8464929
scroll to property group menus

Additional Document Info

start page

  • 3098

end page

  • 3102

volume

  • 90

issue

  • 7

©2021 The Scripps Research Institute | Terms of Use | Powered by VIVO

  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Support