Finger kinaesthesia: cognitive electrogeneses to attended joint input.

Study of brain mechanisms subserving perception of passive finger movements revealed an unexpected contrast between cutaneous and deep inputs from fingers. Selective attention to tactile inputs from finger tips did not change the first response of primary area 3b, but elicited a cognitive P40 in second order postcentral cortex. For finger joint inputs, attention enhanced the very first cortical response elicited by thalamo-cortical input in postcentral area 2 whereby finger kinaesthesia information was integrated with the cutaneous features information received from primary somatic areas via corticocortical connections. Cognitive electrogeneses P40, P100, N140 and P300 manifested serial sensory features processing and prefrontal working memory matching whereby manipulated objects can be identified from their shape and texture in active touch.