Neurobiology Department, Life Sciences Institute, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel.
Neuron. 2010 Nov 4;68(3):586-600. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.09.032.
Large-scale topographic representations of the body have long been established in the somatosensory and motor cortices. Using functional imaging, we identified a topographically organized body part map within the occipitotemporal cortex (OTC), with distinct clusters of voxels showing clear preference for different visually presented body parts. This representation was consistent both across hemispheres and participants. Using converging methods, the preference for specific body parts was demonstrated to be robust and did not merely reflect shape differences between the categories. Finally, execution of (unseen) movements with different body parts resulted in a limited topographic representation of the limbs and trunk, which partially overlapped with the visual body part map. This motor-driven activation in the OTC could not be explained solely by visual or motor imagery of the body parts. This suggests that visual and motor-related information converge within the OTC in a body part specific manner.
身体的大规模地形代表长期以来一直存在于体感和运动皮层中。使用功能成像，我们在枕颞皮层（OTC）中识别出一个具有组织性的身体部位图谱，其中不同的体素簇明显偏爱不同的视觉呈现的身体部位。这种表示在半球和参与者之间都是一致的。使用趋同的方法，证明了对特定身体部位的偏好是稳健的，而不仅仅反映了类别之间的形状差异。最后，用不同的身体部位执行（未看到的）动作会导致四肢和躯干的有限地形表示，这与视觉身体部位图谱部分重叠。OTC 中的这种运动驱动激活不能仅通过身体部位的视觉或运动想象来解释。这表明，视觉和运动相关信息以身体部位特异性的方式在 OTC 中汇聚。
