Aglioti S, Beltramello A, Bonazzi A, Corbetta M
Dipartimento di Scienze, Neurologiche e della Visione, Universita' di Verona, Italy.
Exp Brain Res. 1996 Apr;109(1):92-100. doi: 10.1007/BF00228630.
Three patients with a severe somatosensory deficit consequent on damage of the right somatosensory cortices were required, while blindfolded, to point with their insensate thumb to select positions on the other left fingers. Given the absence of feedback, the motor performance of the insensate thumb appeared grossly impaired in all patients. However, all patients attained end-points with an accuracy greater than chance. This result suggests that spatial accuracy may not rely entirely on sensory feedback. A good accuracy of pointing was evinced also in potentially facilitating conditions where somatosensory and motor cues coming from the intact side during simultaneous movement of both thumbs, vision of stimulated point and final thumb position, and visuomotor imagery were available. Furthermore, in one patient, the accuracy of the insensate thumb in cued conditions was higher than in a reference baseline condition, thus indicating that motor and cognitive cues can help the motor performance of patients with cortical somatosensory lesions.
三名因右侧躯体感觉皮层受损而出现严重躯体感觉缺陷的患者，在蒙住眼睛的情况下，被要求用失去感觉的拇指指向左手其他手指上的位置。由于缺乏反馈，所有患者失去感觉的拇指的运动表现似乎都严重受损。然而，所有患者到达终点的准确率都高于随机水平。这一结果表明，空间准确性可能并不完全依赖于感觉反馈。在一些可能具有促进作用的条件下，比如在双手拇指同时移动时来自完好一侧的躯体感觉和运动线索、对受刺激点和最终拇指位置的视觉以及视觉运动想象等条件下，也表现出了良好的指向准确性。此外，在一名患者中，有提示条件下失去感觉的拇指的准确性高于参考基线条件，这表明运动和认知线索可以帮助皮层躯体感觉损伤患者的运动表现。
