Source: Woolsey-1958



Organization of Somatic Sensory and Motor Areas of the Cerebral Cortex

Woolsey CN
in Biological and Biochemical Bases of Behavior, HF Harlow and CN Woolsey eds, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1958.

This paper discusses and illustrates the topographic representation of somesthetic and motor functions in the cerebral cortex of several nonhuman species. Somesthetic function was mapped in anesthetized animals on the basis of evoked potentials elicited in the cortex by light touch stimulation of the skin. Motor function was mapped also in anesthetized animals on the basis of movements elicited by electrical stimulation of the cortex. The report provides summary diagrams in which the size and locations of cortical areas related to specific skin areas are mapped on the cortical surface. The primary somesthetic area (area SI of Woolsey-1958), second somatic sensory area (area SII of Woolsey-1958), primary motor cortex (area MI of Woolsey-1958) and supplementary motor cortex (area MII of Woolsey-1958) are illustrated for the rat, rabbit, cat and macaque with highly detailed illustrations of the primary somesthetic and motor areas in the macaque.





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