I investigated how tactile stimuli applied to different parts of one hand and to both hands affect neuronal response properties in primary somatosensory cortex (area 3b) of owl monkeys. The premise of this research is that object discrimination requires integration of information from across the hand, and when used together, from both hands; and this integration is likely to involve area 3b. With colleagues, I recorded neuronal activity from 100-electrode arrays implanted in the hand representation of area 3b of five owl monkeys. From these large samples of simultaneous neuronal activity, I analyzed the effects of spatiotemporal tactile stimulation on three basic measures: firing rate, response latency, and spike timing correlations between neuron pairs. From these studies, I concluded that widespread spatial and temporal integration occurs within the area 3b hand representation and across the two hemispheres; and the results helped to quantify the extent and strength of these spatiotemporal interactions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-12042009-103356 |
| Date | 10 December 2009 |
| Creators | Reed, Jamie Lynn |
| Contributors | Anna W. Roe, Jon H. Kaas, Troy A. Hackett, A.B. Bonds, III |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu//available/etd-12042009-103356/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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