Spatial Updating in Human Parietal Cortex

• Published in: Neuron (Cambridge, Mass.) Vol. 39; no. 2; pp. 361 - 373
• Main Authors: Merriam, Elisha P, Genovese, Christopher R, Colby, Carol L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Legacy CDMS Elsevier Inc 17.07.2003; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Adult; Brain; Brain Mapping; Confidence intervals; Eye movements; Eye Movements - physiology; Fourier Analysis; Functional Laterality; Humans; Life Sciences (General); Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Monkeys & apes; Neurons; Neurons - physiology; Parietal Lobe - physiology; Photic Stimulation; Population; Saccades; Space life sciences; Space Perception - physiology; Time Factors; Time series; Visual Fields; Non-Nasa Center; Nasa Discipline Neuroscience; NASA Discipline Neuroscience; Non-NASA Center
• ISSN: 0896-6273; 1097-4199
• DOI: 10.1016/S0896-6273(03)00393-3

Single neurons in monkey parietal cortex update visual information in conjunction with eye movements. This remapping of stimulus representations is thought to contribute to spatial constancy. We hypothesized that a similar process occurs in human parietal cortex and that we could visualize it with functional MRI. We scanned subjects during a task that involved remapping of visual signals across hemifields. We observed an initial response in the hemisphere contralateral to the visual stimulus, followed by a remapped response in the hemisphere ipsilateral to the stimulus. We ruled out the possibility that this remapped response resulted from either eye movements or visual stimuli alone. Our results demonstrate that updating of visual information occurs in human parietal cortex.