Neocortical representational dynamics in adult primates: Implications for neuropsychology

Some evidence for functional reorganization of cortical somatosensory representations in adult primates is reviewed. These examples include representation remodeling in cortical area 3b following digit amputation, digit fusion, local intracortical microstimulation, restricted cortical lesions, or as a consequence of behaviorally controlled stimulation of restricted hand surfaces. We suggest that the profound changes in the cortical representations that have been observed after these and other manipulations must bear consequences for the specific behaviors that depend on the operation of this neural machinery. Furthermore, this lifelong dynamic cortical capacity for neuronal response adaptation by use almost certainly also underlies the progressive representational remodeling that we have recorded following brain lesions.

[1]  P Bach-y-Rita,et al.  Clinical observations on recovery from stroke. , 1988, Advances in neurology.

[2]  David P. Friedman,et al.  Physiological evidence for serial processing in somatosensory cortex. , 1987, Science.

[3]  Paul Bach-y-Rita,et al.  Brain plasticity as a basis for recovery of function in humans , 1990, Neuropsychologia.

[4]  J. Marshall.  Brain function: neural adaptations and recovery from injury. , 1984, Annual review of psychology.

[5]  A. Luria.  The Working Brain: An Introduction To Neuropsychology , 1976 .

[6]  Aleksandr R. Luria,et al.  Restoration of higher cortical function following local brain damage , 1969 .

[7]  William B. Haber,et al.  REACTIONS TO LOSS OF LIMB: PHYSIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS , 1958, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[8]  J. Kaas,et al.  Variability in hand surface representations in areas 3b and 1 in adult owl and squirrel monkeys , 1987, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[9]  M. Merzenich,et al.  Somatotopically inappropriate projections from thalamocortical neurons to the SI cortex of the cat demonstrated by the use of intracortical microstimulation. , 1988, Somatosensory research.

[10]  M. Merzenich,et al.  Reorganization of somatosensory area 3b representations in adult owl monkeys after digital syndactyly. , 1991, Journal of neurophysiology.

[11]  M. Merzenich,et al.  Reorganization of neocortical representations after brain injury: a neurophysiological model of the bases of recovery from stroke. , 1987, Progress in brain research.

[12]  D. J. Felleman,et al.  Topographic reorganization of somatosensory cortical areas 3b and 1 in adult monkeys following restricted deafferentation , 1983, Neuroscience.

[13]  N. Doolittle.  Stroke Recovery: Review of the Literature and Suggestions for Future Research , 1988, The Journal of neuroscience nursing : journal of the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses.

[14]  M. Merzenich,et al.  Receptive fields in the body-surface map in adult cortex defined by temporally correlated inputs , 1988, Nature.

[15]  W. Haber.  Effects of Loss of Limb on Sensory Functions , 1955 .

[16]  T. Brown,et al.  On the Instability of a Cortical Point , 1912 .

[17]  Secondary prevention in stroke: a primary rehabilitation concern. , 1988, Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation.

[18]  M. Cynader,et al.  Somatosensory cortical map changes following digit amputation in adult monkeys , 1984, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[19]  E. Gibson,et al.  Improvement in perceptual judgments as a function of controlled practice or training. , 1953, Psychological bulletin.

[20]  J. Wall.  Variable organization in cortical maps of the skin as an indication of the lifelong adaptive capacities of circuits in the mammalian brain , 1988, Trends in Neurosciences.

[21]  S. Finger.  Recovery from brain damage : research and theory , 1978 .

[22]  M. Merzenich,et al.  Repetitive microstimulation alters the cortical representation of movements in adult rats. , 1990, Somatosensory & motor research.

[23]  M. Stryker,et al.  Anesthetic state does not affect the map of the hand representation within area 3b somatosensory cortex in owl monkey , 1987, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[24]  K. S. Lashley,et al.  INTEGRATIVE FUNCTIONS OF THE CEREBRAL CORTEX , 1933 .