Distal, unilateral hand movements can be associated with activation of both sensorimotor cortices on functional MRI. The neurophysiological significance of the ipsilateral activation remains unclear. We examined 10 healthy right-handed subjects with and without activation of the ipsilateral sensorimotor area during unilateral index-finger movements, to examine ipsilateral, uncrossed-descending ...

Optimal behavior and survival result from integration of information across sensory systems. Modulation of network activity at the level of primary sensory cortices has been identified as a mechanism of cross-modal integration, yet its cellular substrate is still poorly understood. Here, we uncover the mechanisms by which individual neurons in primary somatosensory (S1) and visual (V1) cortices...

Cross education is the process whereby training of one limb gives rise to increases in the subsequent performance of its opposite counterpart. The execution of many unilateral tasks is associated with increased excitability of corticospinal projections from primary motor cortex (M1) to the opposite limb. It has been proposed that these effects are causally related. Our aim was to establish whet...

The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether corticospinal projections from human supplementary motor area (SMA) are functional during precise force control with the precision grip (thumb-index opposition). Since beta band corticomuscular coherence (CMC) is well-accepted to reflect efferent corticospinal transmission, we analyzed the beta band CMC obtained with simultaneous recor...

Introduction: Parkinson Disease (PD) is a degenerative and progressive disorder of the central nervous system. It results from degeneration of Substantia Nigra pars compacta (SNc) of the Basal Ganglia (BG). Gait disturbances in PD patients generally get worse over time. The underlying mechanism of gait disturbances in PD has not been elucidated yet. Methods: In this study, we tried to analyze ...

Mirror neurons are a specific type of visuomotor neuron that discharge both when a monkey executes a motor act and when it observes a similar motor act performed by another individual. In this article, we review first the basic properties of these neurons. We then describe visual features recently investigated which indicate that, besides encoding the goal of motor acts, mirror neurons are modu...

AIMS A potential unintended consequence of legalizing recreational marijuana is increased marijuana-related driving impairment. Some states where recreational marijuana is legal have begun implementing interventions to mitigate driving under the influence (DUI) of marijuana, including media campaigns to increase knowledge about DUI laws. However, little is known about the associations between k...

Following a lesion, the adult central nervous system undergoes dramatic structural and physiological reorganization in diverse subcortical and cortical areas. Our knowledge of the events that parallel recovery within the tissue surrounding the lesion and other distant cortical areas has evolved greatly in the past few years. Particularly, recent efforts have increased our understanding of the p...

in the cerebrum: " ... we know practically nothing about what goes on between the arrival of the excitation at a sensory projection area and its later departure from the It has been 50 years since Donald Hebb published the motor area of the cortex " (xvi). Hebb conjectured that Organization of Behavior: A Neuropsychological Theory cortical circuits admit self-sustaining activity that rever-in 1...

Introduction: Short-term memory (STM) refers to the temporary retention of information needed for a later action. Short-term memory neurons exhibit a sustained firing during the retention time and are tuned to specific information. Initially extensively described in the prefrontal cortex (area 46) [1], STM-neurons have since been found in many areas of the brain; e.g. in the motor cortex (area ...