Spatial tuning of electrophysiological responses to multisensory stimuli reveals a primitive coding of the body boundaries in newborns.

ABSTRACT: The ability to identify our own body and its boundaries is crucial for survival. Ideally, the sooner we learn to discriminate external stimuli occurring close to our body from those occurring far from it, the better (and safer) we may interact with the sensory environment. However, when this mechanism emerges within ontogeny is unknown. Is it something acquired throughout infancy, or is it already present soon after birth? The presence of a spatial modulation of multisensory integration (MSI) is considered a hallmark of a functioning representation of the body position in space. Here, we investigated whether MSI is present and spatially organized in 18- to 92-h-old newborns. We compared electrophysiological responses to tactile stimulation when concurrent auditory events were delivered clo

SUBMITTER: Ronga I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8000027 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature