Temporal dynamics of alpha and beta rhythms in human SI and SII after galvanic median nerve stimulation. A MEG study

In this MEG study, we investigated cortical alpha/sigma and beta ERD/ERS induced by median nerve stimulation to extend previous evidence on different resonant and oscillatory behavior of SI and SII (NeuroImage 13 [2001] 662). Here, we tested whether simple somatosensory stimulation could induce a distinctive sequence of alpha/sigma and beta ERD/ERS over SII compared to SI. We found that for both alpha/sigma (around 10 Hz) and beta (around 20 Hz) rhythms, the latencies of ERD and ERS were larger in bilateral SII than in contralateral SI. In addition, the peak amplitude of alpha/sigma and beta ERS was smaller in bilateral SII than in contralateral SI. These results indicate a delayed and prolonged activation of SII responses, reflecting a protracted information elaboration possibly related to SII higher order role in the processing of somatosensory information. This temporal dynamics of alpha/sigma and beta rhythms may be related to a sequential activation scheme of SI and SII during the somatosensory information processes. Future studies should evaluate in SII the possible different functional significance of alpha/sigma with respect to beta rhythms during somatosensory processing.