Related Experiment Videos
Neuroimaging of cognitive functions in human parietal cortex
1Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5C2, Canada. culham@irus.rri.uwo.ca
Current Opinion in Neurobiology
|April 13, 2001
Summary
Functional neuroimaging maps sensory regions, but mapping the human parietal cortex, or association cortex, presents challenges due to generalized activation across tasks.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Neuroimaging
- Human Brain Mapping
Background:
- Functional neuroimaging excels at mapping sensory areas, especially visual cortex.
- Emerging evidence points to specialized subregions within the human parietal cortex.
- These findings align with neurophysiological studies in non-human primates.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the potential for specialized subregions in the human parietal cortex.
- To explore the challenges in extending brain mapping to higher-order association cortex.
Main Methods:
- Utilized functional neuroimaging techniques.
- Analyzed brain activation patterns across various cognitive tasks.
Main Results:
- Parietal cortex activation is observed to generalize across a broad range of cognitive tasks.
- This widespread activation pattern complicates the identification of distinct functional subregions.
Conclusions:
- Mapping specialized subregions in the human parietal cortex is more challenging than in sensory areas.
- Extending detailed brain mapping into higher-order association cortex requires further methodological development.