Graziano M S, Gross C G
Department of Psychology, Princeton University, NJ 08544.
Exp Brain Res. 1993;97(1):96-109. doi: 10.1007/BF00228820.
The macaque putamen contains neurons that respond to somatosensory stimuli such as light touch, joint movement, or deep muscle pressure. Their receptive fields are arranged to form a map of the body. In the face and arm region of this somatotopic map we found neurons that responded to visual stimuli. Some neurons were bimodal, responding to both visual and somatosensory stimuli, while others were purely visual, or purely somatosensory. The bimodal neurons usually responded to light cutaneous stimulation, rather than to joint movement or deep muscle pressure. They responded to visual stimuli near their tactile receptive field and were not selective for the shape or the color of the stimuli. For cells with tactile receptive fields on the face, the visual receptive field subtended a solid angle extending from the tactile receptive field to about 10 cm. For cells with tactile receptive fields on the arm, the visual receptive field often extended further from the animal. These bimodal properties provide a map of the visual space that immediately surrounds the monkey. The map is organized somatotopically, that is, by body part, rather than retinotopically as in most visual areas. It could function to guide movements in the animal's immediate vicinity. Cortical areas 6, 7b, and VIP contain bimodal cells with very similar properties to those in the putamen. We suggest that the bimodal cells in area 6, 7b, VIP, and the putamen form part of an interconnected system that represents extra personal space in a somatotopic fashion.
猕猴的壳核包含对体感刺激有反应的神经元，如轻触、关节运动或深部肌肉压力。它们的感受野排列形成身体图谱。在这个躯体定位图谱的面部和手臂区域，我们发现了对视觉刺激有反应的神经元。一些神经元是双峰的，对视觉和体感刺激都有反应，而其他神经元则是纯视觉或纯体感的。双峰神经元通常对皮肤的轻刺激有反应，而不是对关节运动或深部肌肉压力有反应。它们对触觉感受野附近的视觉刺激有反应，并且对刺激的形状或颜色没有选择性。对于面部有触觉感受野的细胞，视觉感受野所张的立体角从触觉感受野延伸到约10厘米。对于手臂有触觉感受野的细胞，视觉感受野通常延伸得离动物更远。这些双峰特性提供了围绕猴子的视觉空间图谱。该图谱是按躯体定位组织的，即按身体部位组织，而不是像大多数视觉区域那样按视网膜定位组织。它可能起到引导动物附近运动的作用。皮质区域6、7b和VIP包含与壳核中具有非常相似特性的双峰细胞。我们认为，区域6、7b、VIP和壳核中的双峰细胞构成了一个以躯体定位方式代表个人周边空间的互连系统的一部分。
