Finger kinaesthesia: cognitive electrogeneses to attended joint input

STUDY of brain mechanisms subserving perception of passive finger movements revealed an unexpected contrast between cutaneous and deep inputs from fin gers. Selective attention to tactile inputs from finger tips did not change the first response of primary area 3b, but elicited a cognitive P40 in sec ond order postcentral cortex. For finger joint inputs, attention enhanced t he very first cortical response elicited by thalamo-cortical input in postc entral area 2 whereby finger kinaesthesia information was integrated with t he cutaneous features information received from primary somatic areas via c orticocortical connections. Cognitive electrogeneses P40, P100, N140 and P3 00 manifested serial sensory features processing and prefrontal working mem ory matching whereby manipulated objects can be identified from their shape and texture in active touch. NeuroReport 10:2547-2550 (C) 1999 Lippincott Williams &. Wilkins.