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...

Association Areas of the Cortex

Association Areas of the Cortex

Association areas are regions of the cerebral cortex that do not have a specific sensory or motor function. Instead, they integrate and interpret information from various sources to enable higher cognitive processes such as memory, learning, and decision-making. Some key association areas include the following:
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...

Somatosensation

Somatosensation

The somatosensory system relays sensory information from the skin, mucous membranes, limbs, and joints. Somatosensation is more familiarly known as the sense of touch. A typical somatosensory pathway includes three types of long neurons: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary neurons have cell bodies located near the spinal cord in groups of neurons called dorsal root ganglia. The sensory neurons of ganglia innervate designated areas of skin called dermatomes.

You might also read

Related Articles

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

Sort by

Same author

Toward Optimizing Thalamic Deep Brain Stimulation for Cortical Modulation: A Surrogate Brain Approach.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026

Same author

Neural coding of arm and hand actions is spatially organized in motor cortex.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026

Same author

Infrared neural stimulation with fMRI in primates reveals mesoscale limbic organization linked to the medial pulvinar.

Cell reports·2026

Same author

Unveiling interactions of spatial-temporal information in tactile motion perception.

Scientific reports·2025

Same author

Mesoscale functional connectivity of amygdala to the auditory and prefrontal cortex of macaque monkeys revealed by INS-fMRI.

NeuroImage·2025

Same author

In vivo 7 Tesla MRI of non-human primate intracortical microvascular architecture.

Neuron·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 13, 2025

Investigating Object Representations in the Macaque Dorsal Visual Stream Using Single-unit Recordings

Investigating Object Representations in the Macaque Dorsal Visual Stream Using Single-unit Recordings

Published on: August 1, 2018

Optical imaging reveals functional domains in primate sensorimotor cortex.

Robert M Friedman¹, Nicholas G Chehade², Anna Wang Roe³

¹Division of Neuroscience, Oregon National Primate Research Center, Oregon Health and Science University, Beaverton, OR 97006, United States.

|July 26, 2020

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Intrinsic signal optical imaging (ISOI) effectively maps spatial activity domains in the macaque motor cortex (M1) and somatosensory cortex (S1) during arm and hand movements, identifying functional neural clusters.

Keywords:

Grasp Intrinsic signal optical imaging Motor cortex Reach Single unit recording Somatosensory cortex

More Related Videos

Multi-layer Cortical Ca2+ Imaging in Freely Moving Mice with Prism Probes and Miniaturized Fluorescence Microscopy

Multi-layer Cortical Ca2+ Imaging in Freely Moving Mice with Prism Probes and Miniaturized Fluorescence Microscopy

Published on: June 13, 2017

Targeted Labeling of Neurons in a Specific Functional Micro-domain of the Neocortex by Combining Intrinsic Signal and Two-photon Imaging

Targeted Labeling of Neurons in a Specific Functional Micro-domain of the Neocortex by Combining Intrinsic Signal and Two-photon Imaging

Published on: December 12, 2012

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Dec 13, 2025

Investigating Object Representations in the Macaque Dorsal Visual Stream Using Single-unit Recordings

Investigating Object Representations in the Macaque Dorsal Visual Stream Using Single-unit Recordings

Published on: August 1, 2018

Multi-layer Cortical Ca2+ Imaging in Freely Moving Mice with Prism Probes and Miniaturized Fluorescence Microscopy

Multi-layer Cortical Ca2+ Imaging in Freely Moving Mice with Prism Probes and Miniaturized Fluorescence Microscopy

Published on: June 13, 2017

Targeted Labeling of Neurons in a Specific Functional Micro-domain of the Neocortex by Combining Intrinsic Signal and Two-photon Imaging

Targeted Labeling of Neurons in a Specific Functional Micro-domain of the Neocortex by Combining Intrinsic Signal and Two-photon Imaging

Published on: December 12, 2012

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Systems Neuroscience
Motor Control

Background:

Motor cortex (M1) and somatosensory cortex (S1) are crucial for arm and hand control.
Previous research focused on temporal neural activity, neglecting spatial organization.
Optical imaging is suitable for spatial mapping but underutilized in primate sensorimotor cortex.

Purpose of the Study:

To evaluate intrinsic signal optical imaging (ISOI) for measuring cortical activity in macaque M1 and S1.
To investigate the spatial organization of neural activity during arm and hand movements.
To determine if ISOI can identify functionally related neuronal clusters.

Main Methods:

Intrinsic signal optical imaging (ISOI) in a macaque monkey.
Recording neural activity during instructed reaching and grasping tasks.
Single-unit recordings to validate ISOI findings.

Main Results:

ISOI identified distinct active spatial domains in M1 and S1 during reaching and grasping.
Lateral M1 domains correlated with hand representation and grasping activity.
Medial M1 domains correlated with arm representation and reaching activity.
S1 domains overlapped hand representations and showed activity upon target contact.

Conclusions:

ISOI effectively reveals spatial activity domains in M1 and S1 related to arm and hand control.
ISOI domains correspond to spatial clusters of functionally related neurons.
ISOI is a valuable tool for identifying "hot zones" of movement-related cortical activity.
Combining ISOI with other imaging and electrophysiological methods can advance understanding of movement control.