Objective: The aim of this study was to map the cortical representation of the lumbar spine paravertebral (LP) muscles in healthy subjects.
Methods: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was employed to map the cortical representations of the LP muscles at two sites. Stimuli were applied to points on a grid representing scalp positions. The amplitude of motor evoked potentials (n=6) was averaged for each position.
Results: The optimal site for evoking responses in the contralateral LP muscles was situated 1cm anterior and 4 cm lateral to the vertex. Ipsilateral responses were evoked from sites lateral to the optimal site for evoking contralateral responses. Contralateral responses were also obtained from areas anterior to the optimal site.
Conclusions: Maps of these muscles can be produced. The results suggest discrete contra- and ipsilateral cortical projections. Anterior sites at which excitation can be evoked may indicate projections arising in the SMA are involved.
Significance: This study provides normative data regarding the cortical representation of the paravertebral muscles and provides a technique for evaluating cortical motor plasticity in patients presenting with spinal pathologies.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2007.08.006 | DOI Listing |
J Neurosci
January 2025
Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, INCIA, UMR 5287, F-33000 Bordeaux, France
Anticipating rewards is fundamental for decision-making. Animals often use cues to assess reward availability and to make predictions about future outcomes. The gustatory region of the insular cortex (IC), the so-called gustatory cortex, has a well-established role in the representation of predictive cues, such that IC neurons encode both a general form of outcome expectation as well as anticipatory outcome-specific knowledge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Speech Lang Pathol
January 2025
Department of Speech Pathology, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH.
Purpose: The purpose of the current study was to gain insight on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) interface designs for children with cortical visual impairment (CVI). Children with CVI frequently require AAC and specific interface supports, and customization may be necessary to support access and use of speech-generating devices.
Method: A focus group methodology was selected to gain feedback from vision professionals on helpful AAC features for children with CVI.
Hum Brain Mapp
February 2025
Department of Psychology, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Munich, Germany.
Accurate metacognitive judgments about an individual's performance in a mental task require the brain to have access to representations of the quality and difficulty of first-order cognitive processes. However, little is known about how accurate metacognitive judgments are implemented in the brain. Here, we combine brain stimulation with functional neuroimaging to determine the neural and psychological mechanisms underlying the frontopolar cortex's (FPC) role in metacognition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Clin Health Psychol
January 2025
Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China.
Cereb Cortex
January 2025
Optical Imaging and Brain Sciences Medical Discovery Team, Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, 2021 6th St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States.
Processing sensory information, generating perceptions, and shaping behavior engages neural networks in brain areas with highly varied representations, ranging from unimodal sensory cortices to higher-order association areas. In early development, these areas share a common distributed and modular functional organization, but it is not known whether this undergoes a common developmental trajectory, or whether such organization persists only in some brain areas. Here, we examine the development of network organization across diverse cortical regions in ferrets using in vivo wide field calcium imaging of spontaneous activity.
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