Visual Responsiveness of Neurons in the Secondary Somatosensory Area and its Surrounding Parietal Operculum Regions in Awake Macaque Monkeys.

ABSTRACT: Previous neurophysiological studies performed in macaque monkeys have shown that the secondary somatosensory cortex (SII) is essentially engaged in the processing of somatosensory information and no other sensory input has been reported. In contrast, recent human brain-imaging studies have revealed the effects of visual and auditory stimuli on SII activity, which suggest multisensory integration in the human SII. To determine whether multisensory responses of the SII also exist in nonhuman primates, we recorded single-unit activity in response to visual and auditory stimuli from the SII and surrounding regions in 8 hemispheres from 6 awake monkeys. Among 1157 recorded neurons, 306 neurons responded to visual stimuli. These visual neurons usually responded to rather complex stimuli, such as

SUBMITTER: Hihara S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4816798 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature