The cortical eye proprioceptive signal modulates neural activity in higher-order visual cortex as predicted by the variation in visual sensitivity

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• 作者：Daniela Balslev^a ; ^b ; ^{d.balslev@gmail.com} ; Hartwig R. Siebner^a ; Olaf B. Paulson^a ; ^c ; Tanja Kassuba^a
• 关键词：S1EYE ; eye proprioceptive area in the postcentral gyrus as identified by Balslev and Miall (2008) ; M1 ; primary motor cortex ; rTMS ; repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation ; fMRI ; functional magnetic resonance imaging
• 刊名：NeuroImage
• 出版年：2012
• 期刊代码：83_10538119
• 类别：neu
• 出版时间：16 July, 2012
• 卷：61
• 期：4
• 页码：950-956
• 文件大小：642 K

摘要

Whereas the links between eye movements and the shifts in visual attention are well established, less is known about how eye position affects the prioritization of visual space. It was recently observed that visual sensitivity varies with the direction of gaze and the level of excitability in the eye proprioceptive representation in human left somatosensory cortex (S1_EYE), so that after 1 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over S1_EYE, targets presented nearer the center of the orbit are detected more accurately. Here we used whole-brain functional magnetic resonance imaging to map areas where S1_EYE-rTMS affects the neural response evoked by retinally identical stimuli depending on the direction of rotation of the right eye. After S1_EYE-rTMS, a single area in the left cuneus outside Brodmann Areas 17/18 showed an increased neuronal response to a right hemifield target when the right eye was rotated leftwards as compared with when it was rotated rightwards. This effect was larger after S1_EYE-rTMS than after rTMS of a control area in the motor cortex. The neural response to retinally identical stimuli in this area could be predicted from the changes in visual detectability observed previously, but not from the location of the visual targets relative to the body. These results strongly argue for a modulatory connection from the eye proprioceptive area in the somatosensory cortex to the higher-order visual cortex. This connection may contribute to flexibly allocate priorities for visual perception depending on the proprioceptively signaled direction of gaze.