Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex

Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex

The cerebral cortex, the brain's outermost layer, is pivotal in processing complex cognitive tasks, emotions, and various sensory inputs and executing voluntary motor activities. This intricate structure is divided into three primary functional areas: the motor areas, sensory areas, and association areas.
Motor Areas
The motor areas located in the frontal lobe are central to controlling voluntary movements. This region is further subdivided into the primary motor cortex and the premotor cortex.

Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex

Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex

The somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobes is crucial for interpreting sensory data such as touch, temperature, and proprioception. The somatosensory cortex, situated in the parietal lobes, plays a vital role in interpreting sensory information like touch, temperature, and proprioception—awareness of body position. This specialized brain region features an organized structure wherein neurons at the top primarily process sensations originating from the lower body. In contrast, those at the...

Overview of Somatic Sensory Pathways

Overview of Somatic Sensory Pathways

Somatic sensory or somatosensory pathways refer to the neural pathways that carry information related to touch, pressure, pain, temperature, and proprioception from the skin, muscles, tendons, and joints to the brain. These pathways involve several stages of processing and integration of sensory information.
The somatosensory system is divided into three main pathways: the dorsal (or posterior) column-medial lemniscus, spinothalamic (or anterolateral), and spinocerebellar pathways.
The dorsal...

Parallel Processing

Parallel Processing

The brain processes sensory information rapidly due to parallel processing, which involves sending data across multiple neural pathways at the same time. This method allows the brain to manage various sensory qualities, such as shapes, colors, movements, and locations, all concurrently. For instance, when observing a forest landscape, the brain simultaneously processes the movement of leaves, the shapes of trees, the depth between them, and the various shades of green. This enables a quick and...

Brain Imaging

Brain Imaging

Brain imaging technologies provide critical insights into both the structure and function of the human brain, enabling medical professionals and researchers to diagnose, study, and treat neurological disorders or psychiatric disorders more effectively.
These technologies include computerized axial tomography (CAT or CT scans), positron-emission tomography (PET scans), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS).

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Biasing predictive processing of interoceptive information affects implicit spirituality but not religiosity.

Acta psychologica·2026

Same author

Age-related patterns in the creation of social prediction models: a study using immersive virtual reality.

Scientific reports·2026

Same author

Correction: Validation and psychometric analysis of the Italian version of the Behavior Identification Form (BIF) in healthy adults.

Scientific reports·2026

Same author

Changes in Intrinsic Activity of the Primary Somatosensory Cortex Causally Explain Differences in Emotion Perception in Autism.

Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research·2026

Same author

Validation and psychometric analysis of the Italian version of the Behavior Identification Form (BIF) in healthy adults.

Scientific reports·2025

Same author

Unveiling the alterations of action processing and mu rhythm in Williams Syndrome.

NeuroImage·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Extracting Visual Evoked Potentials from EEG Data Recorded During fMRI-guided Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Extracting Visual Evoked Potentials from EEG Data Recorded During fMRI-guided Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Published on: May 12, 2014

Transcranial magnetic stimulation reveals two cortical pathways for visual body processing.

Cosimo Urgesi¹, Beatriz Calvo-Merino, Patrick Haggard

¹Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico E. Medea, Polo Friuli Venezia Giulia, I-33078 San Vito al Tagliamento, Pordenone, Italy. cosimo.urgesi@uniud.it

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience

|July 27, 2007

Summary

Investigating human body perception, this study reveals the premotor cortex is key for upright body recognition. The extrastriate body area (EBA) is crucial for processing inverted bodies, suggesting distinct neural pathways for body perception.

More Related Videos

A Large Lateral Craniotomy Procedure for Mesoscale Wide-field Optical Imaging of Brain Activity

A Large Lateral Craniotomy Procedure for Mesoscale Wide-field Optical Imaging of Brain Activity

Published on: May 7, 2017

Measuring and Manipulating Functionally Specific Neural Pathways in the Human Motor System with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Measuring and Manipulating Functionally Specific Neural Pathways in the Human Motor System with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Published on: February 23, 2020

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Extracting Visual Evoked Potentials from EEG Data Recorded During fMRI-guided Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Extracting Visual Evoked Potentials from EEG Data Recorded During fMRI-guided Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Published on: May 12, 2014

A Large Lateral Craniotomy Procedure for Mesoscale Wide-field Optical Imaging of Brain Activity

A Large Lateral Craniotomy Procedure for Mesoscale Wide-field Optical Imaging of Brain Activity

Published on: May 7, 2017

Measuring and Manipulating Functionally Specific Neural Pathways in the Human Motor System with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Measuring and Manipulating Functionally Specific Neural Pathways in the Human Motor System with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Published on: February 23, 2020

Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Visual Perception
Neuroimaging

Background:

Human body recognition is harder for inverted than upright images, indicating configural processing.
Neuroimaging shows a fronto-temporo-parietal network for body processing, but configural aspects are unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the causal role of premotor, visual, and parietal areas in configural body processing.
To differentiate neural mechanisms for upright versus inverted body perception.

Main Methods:

Used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on specific brain regions (vPMc, EBA, SPL, V1).
Participants performed a delayed matching task with upright and inverted body postures.
rTMS was applied 150 ms after stimulus onset to interfere with neural processing.

Main Results:

Interfering with the ventral premotor cortex (vPMc) reduced accuracy for upright bodies.
Interfering with the extrastriate body area (EBA) reduced accuracy for inverted bodies.
The body inversion effect was significant after EBA and V1 stimulation, but not vPMc or SPL.

Conclusions:

The fronto-parietal mirror network actively contributes to configural body processing.
EBA is critical for local body part processing, distinct from configural processing.
Proposes two separate cortical routes for visual processing of human bodies.