Probing the cortical neuronal correlates of a sensory discrimination process

Arch Ital Biol. 2002 Jul;140(3):253-62.

Abstract

Key to understanding perception is the form of how sensory stimuli are represented in the evoked activity of the brain. Here, we addressed the question of which components of the evoked neuronal activity in the somatosensory cortex represent the stimulus features while trained monkeys discriminated the difference in frequency between two vibrotactile stimuli. We probed whether these cortical neuronal representations are essential to perception. The results show a strong link between the cortical representation of the stimulus and perception.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Action Potentials / physiology*
  • Afferent Pathways / physiology*
  • Animals
  • Electric Stimulation
  • Macaca mulatta
  • Mechanoreceptors / physiology*
  • Neurons / physiology*
  • Physical Stimulation
  • Signal Transduction / physiology
  • Somatosensory Cortex / physiology*
  • Touch / physiology*
  • Vibration