The projection of the primary somatic sensory cortex upon area 5 in the monkey

The projection of the cortex of the primary somatic sensory area (S1) upon area 5 in the rhesus monkey has been studied with axonal degeneration methods. There is little or no overlap between the major topographic representations in area 5 but there is both convergence and divergence within a representation; the degeneration after a small lesion in a representation in SI virtually fills the representation in area 5 and there is extensive overlap of the degeneration after two lesions in widely separated parts of the representation in S1. The representation of the arm in area 5 is surprisingly large, that of the face is relatively smaller than in S1 and the trunk and leg are about the same as in S1. Lesions in the trunk and face representations result in terminal degeneration throughout the antero-posterior extent of area 5, but after damage of the limb representations the degeneration in area 5 is concentrated into 3 medio-laterally disposed bands. Of the cytoarchitectonic subdivisions of S1, area 2 projects most heavily upon area 5 and area 3b the least, and there is a reversal in the antero-posterior dimension with more posterior parts of S1 projecting to more anterior parts of area 5. The corticocortical fibres from S1 end in layers III and IV of area 5, and while the degeneration in layer IV is continuous it is in distinct 'prongs' in layer III.