Parasivam Sharavanan, Cowey Max, Day Bruce, Thyagarajan Dominic
Department of Neurology, Flinders Medical Centre, Bedford Park, Adelaide, South Australia.
Mov Disord. 2009 Feb 15;24(3):422-5. doi: 10.1002/mds.21931.
Multimodal representation of peripersonal or near space has been demonstrated in the brain of the nonhuman primate through invasive electrophysiological experiments. Representation of peripersonal space in the human brain has been inferred from extinction experiments and functional imaging studies. We present a unique case of lower limb myoclonus in a patient with common variable immunodeficiency which is sensitive to visual stimuli in the peripersonal space and light touch. This case provides further evidence for near space representation in the human brain. We hypothesize that somatopically organized multimodal areas exist in the human brain which code for peripersonal space.