Modulation of conscious experience by peripheral sensory stimuli.
G Bottini, E Paulesu, R Sterzi, E Warburton, R J Wise, G Vallar, R S Frackowiak, C D Frith
Nature August 31, 1995 DOI: 10.1038/376778a0 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Case study Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1 |
| Population | One person with a right brain lesion and touch imperception, plus normal subjects |
| Intervention | Vestibular stimulation |
| Measures | Positron emission tomographic regional cerebral blood flow measurements |
| Key findings | In a patient with a right brain lesion, spared regions of the right putamen and insula were maximally active when touch and vestibular stimulation were combined. The authors suggest the vestibular system aids conscious tactile perception by biasing body representation, and that awareness of a sensation is tied to activation in brain areas specific to that sensation. |
Abstract
Lack of awareness of touch associated with brain damage may transiently recover after stimulation of the vestibular system. We used positron emission tomographic regional cerebral blood flow measurements to study the neurophysiological effect of vestibular stimulation on touch imperception in a subject with a right brain lesion. We tested the hypothesis that the vestibular system aids conscious tactile perception by introducing a bias in the neural system subserving body representation. We show that in normal subjects touch and vestibular signals share projections to the putamen, insula, somatosensory area II, premotor cortex and supramarginal gyrus. In our patient a subset of these regions (right putamen and insula) was spared by the lesion and was maximally active when touch and vestibular stimulations were combined. These results support the suggestion that our phenomenological consciousness is associated with activation in circumscribed brain areas specific to the particular sensation of which we are aware.