Enhanced tactile spatial acuity and cortical processing during acute hand deafferentation

Acute deafferentation of a limb results in bilateral cortical reorganization, but the behavioral consequences of this phenomenon are unknown. Here we found rapid improvements in tactile spatial acuity and changes in cortical processing for the left hand during cutaneous anesthesia of the right hand....

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNature neuroscience Vol. 5; no. 10; pp. 936 - 938
Main Authors Van Boven, Robert W, Cohen, Leonardo G, Werhahn, Konrad J, Mortensen, Jennifer, Zeuner, Kirsten E
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Nature Publishing Group 01.10.2002
Subjects
Action Potentials - physiology
Adolescent
Adult
Afferent Pathways - physiology
Anesthesia
Anesthesia, Local - methods
Evoked potentials (Electrophysiology)
Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory - physiology
Female
Foot - innervation
Foot - physiology
Hand - innervation
Hand - physiology
Humans
Male
Measurement
Middle Aged
Nerve Block
Neurons
Physiological aspects
Sensory Thresholds - physiology
Touch - physiology
Visual cortex
United States
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Summary:Acute deafferentation of a limb results in bilateral cortical reorganization, but the behavioral consequences of this phenomenon are unknown. Here we found rapid improvements in tactile spatial acuity and changes in cortical processing for the left hand during cutaneous anesthesia of the right hand. The site-specific improvement in tactile spatial acuity may represent a behavioral compensatory gain.
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ISSN:1097-6256
1546-1726
DOI:10.1038/nn917