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...

Vision

Vision

Vision is the result of light being detected and transduced into neural signals by the retina of the eye. This information is then further analyzed and interpreted by the brain. First, light enters the front of the eye and is focused by the cornea and lens onto the retina—a thin sheet of neural tissue lining the back of the eye. Because of refraction through the convex lens of the eye, images are projected onto the retina upside-down and reversed.

You might also read

Related Articles

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

Sort by

Same author

The Population Spatial Frequency Toolbox.

Journal of open research software·2026

Same author

Cortex-specific inversion of visual responses during sleep.

Nature communications·2026

Same author

Cortex-specific inversion of visual responses during sleep.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026

Same author

Dynamic estimation of the attentional field from visual cortical activity.

eLife·2025

Same author

Dynamic estimation of the attentional field from visual cortical activity.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2024

Same author

Differential cortical and subcortical visual processing with eyes shut.

Journal of neurophysiology·2024

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 16, 2025

Assessing Pupil-linked Changes in Locus Coeruleus-mediated Arousal Elicited by Trigeminal Stimulation

Assessing Pupil-linked Changes in Locus Coeruleus-mediated Arousal Elicited by Trigeminal Stimulation

Published on: November 26, 2019

Pupil-Linked Arousal Modulates Precision of Stimulus Representation in Cortex.

Laura S Geurts¹, Sam Ling^2,3, Janneke F M Jehee⁴

¹Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen 6525 EN, the Netherlands.

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

|August 16, 2024

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Neural activity varies even with constant stimuli. This study links neural variability to arousal state changes, measured by pupil size, impacting visual cortex stimulus representation and behavior.

Keywords:

arousal decoding fMRI pupillometry sensory uncertainty visual cortex

More Related Videos

Author Spotlight: An Accurate and Quantitative Approach to Study Visual Feature Selectivity of the Optokinetic Reflex in Mice

Author Spotlight: An Accurate and Quantitative Approach to Study Visual Feature Selectivity of the Optokinetic Reflex in Mice

Published on: June 23, 2023

Pupillometry to Assess Auditory Sensation in Guinea Pigs

Pupillometry to Assess Auditory Sensation in Guinea Pigs

Published on: January 6, 2023

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 16, 2025

Assessing Pupil-linked Changes in Locus Coeruleus-mediated Arousal Elicited by Trigeminal Stimulation

Assessing Pupil-linked Changes in Locus Coeruleus-mediated Arousal Elicited by Trigeminal Stimulation

Published on: November 26, 2019

Author Spotlight: An Accurate and Quantitative Approach to Study Visual Feature Selectivity of the Optokinetic Reflex in Mice

Author Spotlight: An Accurate and Quantitative Approach to Study Visual Feature Selectivity of the Optokinetic Reflex in Mice

Published on: June 23, 2023

Pupillometry to Assess Auditory Sensation in Guinea Pigs

Pupillometry to Assess Auditory Sensation in Guinea Pigs

Published on: January 6, 2023

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Science
Psychology

Background:

Neural responses exhibit inherent trial-to-trial variability, even with stable stimuli.
The underlying causes of this neural variability, particularly in cortical representations, remain incompletely understood.
Arousal state fluctuations are a potential, yet underexplored, factor influencing neural signal fidelity.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether spontaneous changes in arousal state contribute to variability in neural population activity.
To determine if arousal state modulates the precision of stimulus representations in the human visual cortex.
To examine the behavioral consequences of arousal-modulated neural precision.

Main Methods:

Utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and probabilistic decoding to assess visual cortex stimulus representation precision.
Employed pupillometry to continuously monitor and quantify participants' arousal state.
Combined neuroimaging and pupillometry with behavioral tasks (orientation judgment and confidence ratings) to link neural, physiological, and behavioral measures.

Main Results:

Found significant trial-to-trial variability in the precision of visual cortical stimulus representations, subjective confidence, and behavioral judgments.
Demonstrated a strong correlation between pupil size (pre-stimulus dilation and during stimulus presentation) and the precision of neural representations.
Showed that increased pupil dilation during stimulus presentation was associated with higher confidence and improved behavioral performance.

Conclusions:

Spontaneous fluctuations in arousal state significantly modulate the fidelity of stimulus representations in the human visual cortex.
These arousal-driven changes in neural representation precision have direct and measurable consequences on sensory perception and behavior.
Pupillometry serves as a valuable, non-invasive index for tracking arousal-related modulations of neural processing and perception.