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Basile GA, Tatti E, Bertino S, Milardi D, Genovese G, Bruno A, Muscatello MRA, Ciurleo R, Cerasa A, Quartarone A, Cacciola A. Neuroanatomical correlates of peripersonal space: bridging the gap between perception, action, emotion and social cognition. Brain Struct Funct 2024; 229:1047-1072. [PMID: 38683211 PMCID: PMC11147881 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-024-02781-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2023] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 05/01/2024]
Abstract
Peripersonal space (PPS) is a construct referring to the portion of space immediately surrounding our bodies, where most of the interactions between the subject and the environment, including other individuals, take place. Decades of animal and human neuroscience research have revealed that the brain holds a separate representation of this region of space: this distinct spatial representation has evolved to ensure proper relevance to stimuli that are close to the body and prompt an appropriate behavioral response. The neural underpinnings of such construct have been thoroughly investigated by different generations of studies involving anatomical and electrophysiological investigations in animal models, and, recently, neuroimaging experiments in human subjects. Here, we provide a comprehensive anatomical overview of the anatomical circuitry underlying PPS representation in the human brain. Gathering evidence from multiple areas of research, we identified cortical and subcortical regions that are involved in specific aspects of PPS encoding.We show how these regions are part of segregated, yet integrated functional networks within the brain, which are in turn involved in higher-order integration of information. This wide-scale circuitry accounts for the relevance of PPS encoding in multiple brain functions, including not only motor planning and visuospatial attention but also emotional and social cognitive aspects. A complete characterization of these circuits may clarify the derangements of PPS representation observed in different neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gianpaolo Antonio Basile
- Brain Mapping Lab, Department of Biomedical, Dental Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
| | - Elisa Tatti
- Department of Molecular, Cellular & Biomedical Sciences, CUNY, School of Medicine, New York, NY, 10031, USA
| | - Salvatore Bertino
- Brain Mapping Lab, Department of Biomedical, Dental Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Demetrio Milardi
- Brain Mapping Lab, Department of Biomedical, Dental Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | | | - Antonio Bruno
- Psychiatry Unit, University Hospital "G. Martino", Messina, Italy
- Department of Biomedical, Dental Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Maria Rosaria Anna Muscatello
- Psychiatry Unit, University Hospital "G. Martino", Messina, Italy
- Department of Biomedical, Dental Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | | | - Antonio Cerasa
- S. Anna Institute, Crotone, Italy
- Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation (IRIB), National Research Council of Italy, Messina, Italy
- Pharmacotechnology Documentation and Transfer Unit, Preclinical and Translational Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacy, Health Science and Nutrition, University of Calabria, Rende, Italy
| | | | - Alberto Cacciola
- Brain Mapping Lab, Department of Biomedical, Dental Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
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Emotion Elicitation through Vibrotactile Stimulation as an Alternative for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People: An EEG Study. ELECTRONICS 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/electronics11142196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Despite technological and accessibility advances, the performing arts and their cultural offerings remain inaccessible to many people. By using vibrotactile stimulation as an alternative channel, we explored a different way to enhance emotional processes produced while watching audiovisual media and, thus, elicit a greater emotional reaction in hearing-impaired people. We recorded the brain activity of 35 participants with normal hearing and 8 participants with severe and total hearing loss. The results showed activation in the same areas both in participants with normal hearing while watching a video, and in hearing-impaired participants while watching the same video with synchronized soft vibrotactile stimulation in both hands, based on a proprietary stimulation glove. These brain areas (bilateral middle frontal orbitofrontal, bilateral superior frontal gyrus, and left cingulum) have been reported as emotional and attentional areas. We conclude that vibrotactile stimulation can elicit the appropriate cortex activation while watching audiovisual media.
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de Borst AW, de Gelder B. Threat Detection in Nearby Space Mobilizes Human Ventral Premotor Cortex, Intraparietal Sulcus, and Amygdala. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12030391. [PMID: 35326349 PMCID: PMC8946485 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12030391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2022] [Revised: 03/04/2022] [Accepted: 03/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
In the monkey brain, the precentral gyrus and ventral intraparietal area are two interconnected brain regions that form a system for detecting and responding to events in nearby “peripersonal” space (PPS), with threat detection as one of its major functions. Behavioral studies point toward a similar defensive function of PPS in humans. Here, our aim was to find support for this hypothesis by investigating if homolog regions in the human brain respond more strongly to approaching threatening stimuli. During fMRI scanning, naturalistic social stimuli were presented in a 3D virtual environment. Our results showed that the ventral premotor cortex and intraparietal sulcus responded more strongly to threatening stimuli entering PPS. Moreover, we found evidence for the involvement of the amygdala and anterior insula in processing threats. We propose that the defensive function of PPS may be supported by a subcortical circuit that sends information about the relevance of the stimulus to the premotor cortex and intraparietal sulcus, where action preparation is facilitated when necessary.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aline W. de Borst
- Department of Biological and Neuropsychology, Faculty of Psychology and Human Movement, Hamburg University, Von-Melle-Park 11, 20146 Hamburg, Germany
- UCL Interaction Centre, University College London, 66-72 Gower St., London WC1E 6EA, UK
- Correspondence:
| | - Beatrice de Gelder
- Brain and Emotion Laboratory, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Oxfordlaan 55, 6229 EV Maastricht, The Netherlands;
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Foster C, Sheng WA, Heed T, Ben Hamed S. The macaque ventral intraparietal area has expanded into three homologue human parietal areas. Prog Neurobiol 2021; 209:102185. [PMID: 34775040 DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2021.102185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2021] [Revised: 10/27/2021] [Accepted: 11/05/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
The macaque ventral intraparietal area (VIP) in the fundus of the intraparietal sulcus has been implicated in a diverse range of sensorimotor and cognitive functions such as motion processing, multisensory integration, processing of head peripersonal space, defensive behavior, and numerosity coding. Here, we exhaustively review macaque VIP function, cytoarchitectonics, and anatomical connectivity and integrate it with human studies that have attempted to identify a potential human VIP homologue. We show that human VIP research has consistently identified three, rather than one, bilateral parietal areas that each appear to subsume some, but not all, of the macaque area's functionality. Available evidence suggests that this human "VIP complex" has evolved as an expansion of the macaque area, but that some precursory specialization within macaque VIP has been previously overlooked. The three human areas are dominated, roughly, by coding the head or self in the environment, visual heading direction, and the peripersonal environment around the head, respectively. A unifying functional principle may be best described as prediction in space and time, linking VIP to state estimation as a key parietal sensorimotor function. VIP's expansive differentiation of head and self-related processing may have been key in the emergence of human bodily self-consciousness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Celia Foster
- Biopsychology & Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology & Sports Science, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany; Center of Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC), Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Wei-An Sheng
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR5229, CNRS-University of Lyon 1, France
| | - Tobias Heed
- Biopsychology & Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology & Sports Science, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany; Center of Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC), Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany; Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria; Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
| | - Suliann Ben Hamed
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR5229, CNRS-University of Lyon 1, France.
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Chivukula S, Zhang CY, Aflalo T, Jafari M, Pejsa K, Pouratian N, Andersen RA. Neural encoding of actual and imagined touch within human posterior parietal cortex. eLife 2021; 10:61646. [PMID: 33647233 PMCID: PMC7924956 DOI: 10.7554/elife.61646] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2020] [Accepted: 02/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
In the human posterior parietal cortex (PPC), single units encode high-dimensional information with partially mixed representations that enable small populations of neurons to encode many variables relevant to movement planning, execution, cognition, and perception. Here, we test whether a PPC neuronal population previously demonstrated to encode visual and motor information is similarly engaged in the somatosensory domain. We recorded neurons within the PPC of a human clinical trial participant during actual touch presentation and during a tactile imagery task. Neurons encoded actual touch at short latency with bilateral receptive fields, organized by body part, and covered all tested regions. The tactile imagery task evoked body part-specific responses that shared a neural substrate with actual touch. Our results are the first neuron-level evidence of touch encoding in human PPC and its cognitive engagement during a tactile imagery task, which may reflect semantic processing, attention, sensory anticipation, or imagined touch.
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Affiliation(s)
- Srinivas Chivukula
- Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of TechnologyPasadenaUnited States,Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center, Chen Institute for Neuroscience, California Institute of TechnologyPasadenaUnited States,Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los AngelesLos AngelesUnited States
| | - Carey Y Zhang
- Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of TechnologyPasadenaUnited States,Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center, Chen Institute for Neuroscience, California Institute of TechnologyPasadenaUnited States
| | - Tyson Aflalo
- Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of TechnologyPasadenaUnited States,Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center, Chen Institute for Neuroscience, California Institute of TechnologyPasadenaUnited States
| | - Matiar Jafari
- Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of TechnologyPasadenaUnited States,Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center, Chen Institute for Neuroscience, California Institute of TechnologyPasadenaUnited States,Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los AngelesLos AngelesUnited States
| | - Kelsie Pejsa
- Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of TechnologyPasadenaUnited States,Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center, Chen Institute for Neuroscience, California Institute of TechnologyPasadenaUnited States
| | - Nader Pouratian
- Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of TechnologyPasadenaUnited States,Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center, Chen Institute for Neuroscience, California Institute of TechnologyPasadenaUnited States,Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los AngelesLos AngelesUnited States
| | - Richard A Andersen
- Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of TechnologyPasadenaUnited States,Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center, Chen Institute for Neuroscience, California Institute of TechnologyPasadenaUnited States
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Cross-modal size-contrast illusion: Acoustic increases in intensity and bandwidth modulate haptic representation of object size. Sci Rep 2019; 9:14440. [PMID: 31595003 PMCID: PMC6783429 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-50912-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2019] [Accepted: 09/12/2019] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Changes in the retinal size of stationary objects provide a cue to the observer's motion in the environment: Increases indicate the observer's forward motion, and decreases backward motion. In this study, a series of images each comprising a pair of pine-tree figures were translated into auditory modality using sensory substitution software. Resulting auditory stimuli were presented in an ascending sequence (i.e. increasing in intensity and bandwidth compatible with forward motion), descending sequence (i.e. decreasing in intensity and bandwidth compatible with backward motion), or in a scrambled order. During the presentation of stimuli, blindfolded participants estimated the lengths of wooden sticks by haptics. Results showed that those exposed to the stimuli compatible with forward motion underestimated the lengths of the sticks. This consistent underestimation may share some aspects with visual size-contrast effects such as the Ebbinghaus illusion. In contrast, participants in the other two conditions did not show such magnitude of error in size estimation; which is consistent with the "adaptive perceptual bias" towards acoustic increases in intensity and bandwidth. In sum, we report a novel cross-modal size-contrast illusion, which reveals that auditory motion cues compatible with listeners' forward motion modulate haptic representations of object size.
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Pasqualotto A, Furlan M, Proulx MJ, Sereno MI. Visual loss alters multisensory face maps in humans. Brain Struct Funct 2018; 223:3731-3738. [PMID: 30043118 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-018-1713-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2015] [Accepted: 07/04/2018] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Topographically organised responses to visual and tactile stimulation are aligned in the ventral intraparietal cortex. The critical biological importance of this region, which is thought to mediate visually guided defensive movements of the head and upper body, suggests that these maps might be hardwired from birth. Here, we investigated whether visual experience is necessary for the creation and positioning of these maps by assessing the representation of tactile stimulation in congenitally and totally blind participants, who had no visual experience, and late and totally blind participants. We used a single-subject approach to the analysis to focus on the potential individual differences in the functional neuroanatomy that might arise from different causes, durations and sensory experiences of visual impairment among participants. The overall results did not show any significant difference between congenitally and late blind participants; however, single-subject trends suggested that visual experience is not necessary to develop topographically organised maps in the intraparietal cortex, whilst losing vision disrupted topographic maps' integrity and organisation. These results discussed in terms of brain plasticity and sensitive periods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Achille Pasqualotto
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK. .,Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, UK. .,Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Sabanci University, 34956, Tuzla, Istanbul, Turkey.
| | - Michele Furlan
- SISSA (Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati), Trieste, Italy
| | - Michael J Proulx
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.,Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, UK
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Abstract
The construction of a coherent representation of our body and the mapping of the space immediately surrounding it are of the highest ecological importance. This space has at least three specificities: it is a space where actions are planned in order to interact with our environment; it is a space that contributes to the experience of self and self-boundaries, through tactile processing and multisensory interactions; last, it is a space that contributes to the experience of body integrity against external events. In the last decades, numerous studies have been interested in peripersonal space (PPS), defined as the space directly surrounding us and which we can interact with (for reviews, see Cléry et al., 2015b; de Vignemont and Iannetti, 2015; di Pellegrino and Làdavas, 2015). These studies have contributed to the understanding of how this space is constructed, encoded and modulated. The majority of these studies focused on subparts of PPS (the hand, the face or the trunk) and very few of them investigated the interaction between PPS subparts. In the present review, we summarize the latest advances in this research and we discuss the new perspectives that are set forth for futures investigations on this topic. We describe the most recent methods used to estimate PPS boundaries by the means of dynamic stimuli. We then highlight how impact prediction and approaching stimuli modulate this space by social, emotional and action-related components involving principally a parieto-frontal network. In a next step, we review evidence that there is not a unique representation of PPS but at least three sub-sections (hand, face and trunk PPS). Last, we discuss how these subspaces interact, and we question whether and how bodily self-consciousness (BSC) is functionally and behaviorally linked to PPS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justine Cléry
- UMR5229, Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS-Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, Bron, France
| | - Suliann Ben Hamed
- UMR5229, Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS-Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, Bron, France
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Huang R, Chen C, Sereno MI. Spatiotemporal integration of looming visual and tactile stimuli near the face. Hum Brain Mapp 2018; 39:2156-2176. [PMID: 29411461 PMCID: PMC5895522 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.23995] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2017] [Revised: 01/10/2018] [Accepted: 01/26/2018] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Real-world objects approaching or passing by an observer often generate visual, auditory, and tactile signals with different onsets and durations. Prompt detection and avoidance of an impending threat depend on precise binding of looming signals across modalities. Here we constructed a multisensory apparatus to study the spatiotemporal integration of looming visual and tactile stimuli near the face. In a psychophysical experiment, subjects assessed the subjective synchrony between a looming ball and an air puff delivered to the same side of the face with a varying temporal offset. Multisensory stimuli with similar onset times were perceived as completely out of sync and assessed with the lowest subjective synchrony index (SSI). Across subjects, the SSI peaked at an offset between 800 and 1,000 ms, where the multisensory stimuli were perceived as optimally in sync. In an fMRI experiment, tactile, visual, tactile-visual out-of-sync (TVoS), and tactile-visual in-sync (TViS) stimuli were delivered to either side of the face in randomized events. Group-average statistical responses to different stimuli were compared within each surface-based region of interest (sROI) outlined on the cortical surface. Most sROIs showed a preference for contralateral stimuli and higher responses to multisensory than unisensory stimuli. In several bilateral sROIs, particularly the human MT+ complex and V6A, responses to spatially aligned multisensory stimuli (TVoS) were further enhanced when the stimuli were in-sync (TViS), as expressed by TVoS < TViS. This study demonstrates the perceptual and neural mechanisms of multisensory integration near the face, which has potential applications in the development of multisensory entertainment systems and media.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruey‐Song Huang
- Institute for Neural Computation, University of California, San DiegoLa JollaCalifornia
| | - Ching‐fu Chen
- Department of Electrical and Computer EngineeringUniversity of California, San DiegoLa JollaCalifornia
| | - Martin I. Sereno
- Department of Psychology and Neuroimaging CenterSan Diego State UniversitySan DiegoCalifornia
- Experimental PsychologyUniversity College LondonLondonUK
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