Pages

Monday, November 25, 2019

Approaching the perception of touch in the brain - EurekAlert

IMAGE

IMAGE: Larger parts of the cerebral cortex than thought process tactile stimuli. view more 

Credit: MPI CBS

An encouraging pat on the back or a soft sweater on the skin - even things that we do not actively explore with the hands, we perceive with our body perception. "Which brain areas are responsible for this perception of touch, however, is still largely unknown," says Privatdozent Dr. Burkhard Pleger, neurologist at the Berufsgenossenschaftlichen Kliniken Bergmannsheil in Bochum and co-author of the study. To investigate this question, he and his colleagues from Leipzig examined the brains of 70 patients using structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

As the result of an injury or a stroke, the participants suffered from a disturbed body perception, such as hypoesthesia - a condition in which the pressure and touch perception of the skin is impaired. People who have suffered such damages - called lesions - in the brain are a particularly important group of patients for neuroscientists. By comparing the location of the damage in the brain and the symptoms of the patients with each other, the researchers can draw conclusions about the function of individual brain areas.

In the current study, the scientists identified different areas that were linked to a limited sense of touch. In doing so, they were able to support some findings from a previous lesion study on body awareness and also to find new areas of the brain that had not been associated with the perception of touch before.

The researchers were able to show that not only the somatosensory cortex is involved in the perception of touch, but also parts of the prefrontal cortex and posterior parietal lobe - brain regions that are known to be essential for attention-focusing and body awareness.

"The study shows that the brain network responsible for the perception of skin contact is much more complex than previously thought," says Pleger.

###

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

Let's block ads! (Why?)



"brain" - Google News
November 25, 2019 at 08:40AM
https://ift.tt/2Dj0vPC

Approaching the perception of touch in the brain - EurekAlert
"brain" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2W2PMS9
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update

No comments:

Post a Comment