Funds are requested to continue our studies of the representation and processing of spatially distributed information in the somatosensory system. Two broad aims are identified for the next five years. The first is to establish with certainty which afferent fibers are responsible for spatial form processing and which central neurons are activated by those fibers; evidence points to the SAI system. Experiments will first be conducted to determine the conditions for selectively activating the SAI, RA and PC systems. Knowledge gained from those experiments will be used in psychophysical experiments to determine the function served by each of the afferent systems and in neurophysiological experiments to determine the submodalities driving neurons in SI and SII cortex. The second broad aim is to understand, in precise detail, the spatiotemporal processing functions of individual neurons in the pathways responsible for tactile form recognition and to develop models of neural representations based on these processing functions. New, flexible stimulus methods will allow the response properties of neurons in SI and SII cortex to be studied systematically. These quantitative studies will be accompanied by theoretical studies aimed at understanding the transformations of spatial information that occur in the somatosensory system at and linking the discharge of cortical neurons to subjects' pattern recognition behavior. In all of the neurophysiological experiments the monkey's attentional state will be controlled and particular attention will be paid to laminar differences in response properties.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01NS018787-12
Application #
2263492
Study Section
Neurological Sciences Subcommittee 1 (NLS)
Project Start
1983-04-01
Project End
1998-03-31
Budget Start
1994-04-01
Budget End
1995-03-31
Support Year
12
Fiscal Year
1994
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Johns Hopkins University
Department
Neurosciences
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
045911138
City
Baltimore
State
MD
Country
United States
Zip Code
21218
Cho, Yoonju; Craig, J C; Hsiao, S S et al. (2016) Vision is superior to touch in shape perception even with equivalent peripheral input. J Neurophysiol 115:92-9
Trzcinski, Natalie K; Gomez-Ramirez, Manuel; Hsiao, Steven S (2016) Functional consequences of experience-dependent plasticity on tactile perception following perceptual learning. Eur J Neurosci 44:2375-86
Kim, Sung Soo; Gomez-Ramirez, Manuel; Thakur, Pramodsingh H et al. (2015) Multimodal Interactions between Proprioceptive and Cutaneous Signals in Primary Somatosensory Cortex. Neuron 86:555-66
Gomez-Ramirez, Manuel; Trzcinski, Natalie K; Mihalas, Stefan et al. (2014) Temporal correlation mechanisms and their role in feature selection: a single-unit study in primate somatosensory cortex. PLoS Biol 12:e1002004
Gwilliam, James C; Yoshioka, Takashi; Okamura, Allison M et al. (2014) Neural coding of passive lump detection in compliant artificial tissue. J Neurophysiol 112:1131-41
Tabot, Gregg A; Dammann, John F; Berg, Joshua A et al. (2013) Restoring the sense of touch with a prosthetic hand through a brain interface. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 110:18279-84
Dong, Yi; Mihalas, Stefan; Kim, Sung Soo et al. (2013) A simple model of mechanotransduction in primate glabrous skin. J Neurophysiol 109:1350-9
Berg, J A; Dammann 3rd, J F; Tenore, F V et al. (2013) Behavioral demonstration of a somatosensory neuroprosthesis. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng 21:500-7
Mackevicius, Emily L; Best, Matthew D; Saal, Hannes P et al. (2012) Millisecond precision spike timing shapes tactile perception. J Neurosci 32:15309-17
Kim, Sung Soo; Mihalas, Stefan; Russell, Alexander et al. (2011) Does afferent heterogeneity matter in conveying tactile feedback through peripheral nerve stimulation? IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng 19:514-20

Showing the most recent 10 out of 71 publications