Overlapping representation of fingers in the somatosensory cortex (area 2) of the conscious monkey

Finger representation on the first somatosensory cortex was mapped in conscious monkeys by single-unit recording. While representation was somatotopic in area 3, this was not the case in area 2, where the representation of different fingers overlapped. Our results indicate that area 2 is not a pure replica of the receptor sheet of the body surface.