In an effort to understand the highly distributed somatotopy of primary motor cortex, this review draws on principles derived from studies of auditory, visual and somatosensory cortical areas. In each case, a behaviorally important feature or function is overlaid in multiple locations on an underlying topographic map of the peripheral sensory surface. Recent studies of hand muscle synergies suggest the types of two-dimensional functional axes that might reasonably be mapped to the two-dimensional surface of the primary motor cortex. However, other research emphasizes that even a functional somatotopy must be extremely flexible.
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Are there cortical somatotopic motor maps outside of the human precentral gyrus?
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- The study investigates how the brain processes location and frequency of vibrations, crucial for tactile perception, using advanced imaging techniques.
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Pioneering investigations in the mid-19th century revealed that the perception of tactile cues presented to the surface of the skin improves with training, which is referred to as . Surprisingly, tactile learning also occurs for body parts and skin locations that are not physically involved in the training. For example, after training of a finger, tactile learning transfers to adjacent untrained fingers.
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