The human posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is involved in the encoding of both visual motion and numerical magnitude. In non human primates, neurons have been found in PPC that are selective for both motion direction and magnitude. Whether such neurons also exist in human PPC is not known. Here we investigated this hypothesis using state-dependent transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Participants were adapted to a specific motion direction (either leftward or rightward), after which they performed a magnitude comparison task, with TMS applied at the onset of each trial. Our hypothesis was that neurons tuned to leftward motion may also be sensitive to small magnitudes and neurons tuned to rightward motion may also be sensitive to large magnitudes, a mapping that may have developed via spatial attentional mechanisms. Our results supported this view by showing that the effect of PPC TMS on small and large numbers depended on the motion direction being adapted, thus suggesting that there may be a functional overlap in neuronal representations of motion direction and numerical magnitude in human PPC. © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.
(2011). Overlapping representations of numerical magnitude and motion direction in the posterior parietal cortex: a TMS-adaptation study [journal article - articolo]. In NEUROSCIENCE LETTERS. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10446/229002
Overlapping representations of numerical magnitude and motion direction in the posterior parietal cortex: a TMS-adaptation study
Cattaneo, Zaira
2011-01-01
Abstract
The human posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is involved in the encoding of both visual motion and numerical magnitude. In non human primates, neurons have been found in PPC that are selective for both motion direction and magnitude. Whether such neurons also exist in human PPC is not known. Here we investigated this hypothesis using state-dependent transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Participants were adapted to a specific motion direction (either leftward or rightward), after which they performed a magnitude comparison task, with TMS applied at the onset of each trial. Our hypothesis was that neurons tuned to leftward motion may also be sensitive to small magnitudes and neurons tuned to rightward motion may also be sensitive to large magnitudes, a mapping that may have developed via spatial attentional mechanisms. Our results supported this view by showing that the effect of PPC TMS on small and large numbers depended on the motion direction being adapted, thus suggesting that there may be a functional overlap in neuronal representations of motion direction and numerical magnitude in human PPC. © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.File | Dimensione del file | Formato | |
---|---|---|---|
NL_Renzi motion numbers_2011.pdf
Solo gestori di archivio
Versione:
publisher's version - versione editoriale
Licenza:
Licenza default Aisberg
Dimensione del file
293.82 kB
Formato
Adobe PDF
|
293.82 kB | Adobe PDF | Visualizza/Apri |
Pubblicazioni consigliate
Aisberg ©2008 Servizi bibliotecari, Università degli studi di Bergamo | Terms of use/Condizioni di utilizzo