Biomedical subjects

Vinay Tannan

Publications and source records attributed to Vinay Tannan.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Vibrotactile adaptation enhances spatial localization.

A two-interval forced choice tracking procedure was used to evaluate the effects of a pre-exposure to vibrotactile stimulation ("adaptation") on the capacity of human subjects to spatially localize a subsequent tactile stimulus. A 25 Hz flutter adapting stimulus was presented at a randomly selected position within a 20 mm linear array oriented transversely on the hand dorsum. Two flutter stimuli delivered subsequently were applied to different sites along the linear array; one to the same locus that received the adapting stimulation (the "standard" stimulus), the other to a distant site (the "test" stimulus). Following each trial, subjects were queried as to which of the two stimuli was delivered to the same skin site that received adapting stimulation. A correct response resulted in a reduced distance between the sites contacted by the standard and test stimuli in the following trial. Four subjects participated in 10 sessions each. A session consisted of two sets of 20 trials (one set at 0.5 s and another at 5 s adapting stimulus duration). For every subject, 5 s adaptation resulted in an approximately 2-fold improvement in spatial discrimination performance over that achieved following 0.5 s adaptation. It is proposed that the improved human vibrotactile spatial localization performance following 5 s of 25 Hz stimulation is due to enhanced spatial funneling of the global neuronal population response of primary somatosensory cortex (SI) that has been demonstrated to accompany increases in duration of 25 Hz flutter stimuli delivered to the skin.

Acclimatization↗

PubMed2005

Amplitude-dependency of response of SI cortex to flutter stimulation.

BACKGROUND: It is established that increasing the amplitude of a flutter stimulus increases its perceived intensity. Although many studies have examined this phenomenon with regard to the responding afferent population, the way in which the intensity of a stimulus is coded in primary somatosensory cortex (SI) remains unclear. RESULTS: Optical intrinsic signal (OIS) imaging was used to study the evoked responses in SI of anesthetized squirrel monkeys by 25 Hz sinusoidal vertical skin displacement stimulation. Stimuli were 10 sec duration with a 50 sec inter-stimulus interval. Stimulus amplitude ranged from 50 to 400 microns and different amplitudes were interleaved. Control levels of activity were measured in the absence of stimulation, and used to compare with activation levels evoked by the different stimulus amplitudes. Stimulation of a discrete skin site on the forelimb evoked a prominent increase in absorbance within the forelimb representational region in cytoarchitectonic areas 3b and 1 of the contralateral hemisphere. An increase in stimulus amplitude led to a proportional increase in the magnitude of the absorbance increase in this region of areas 3b and 1 while surrounding cortex underwent a decrease in absorbance. Correlation maps revealed that as stimulus amplitude is increased, the spatial extent of the activated region in SI remains relatively constant, and the activity within this region increases progressively. Additionally, as stimulus amplitude is increased to suprathreshold levels, activity in the surround of the activated SI territory decreases, suggesting an increase in inhibition of neuronal activity within these regions. CONCLUSION: Increasing the amplitude of a flutter stimulus leads to a proportional increase in absorbance within the forelimb representational region of SI. This most likely reflects an increase in the firing rate of neurons in this region of SI. The relatively constant spatial extent of this stimulus-evoked increase in absorbance suggests that an increase in the amplitude of a 25 Hz skin stimulus does not evoke a larger area of SI neuronal activation due to an amplitude-dependent lateral inhibitory effect that spatially funnels the responding SI neuronal population.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Response of SII cortex to ipsilateral, contralateral and bilateral flutter stimulation in the cat.

BACKGROUND: A distinctive property of SII is that it is the first cortical stage of the somatosensory projection pathway that integrates information arising from both sides of the body. However, there is very little known about how inputs across the body mid-line are processed within SII. RESULTS: Optical intrinsic signal imaging was used to evaluate the response of primary somatosensory cortex (SI and SII in the same hemisphere) to 25 Hz sinusoidal vertical skin displacement stimulation ("skin flutter") applied contralaterally, ipsilaterally, and bilaterally to the central pads of the forepaws. A localized increase in absorbance in both SI and SII was evoked by both contralateral and bilateral flutter stimulation. Ipsilateral flutter stimulation evoked a localized increase in absorbance in SII, but not in SI. The SII region that responded with an increase in absorbance to ipsilateral stimulation was posterior to the region in which absorbance increased maximally in response to stimulation of the contralateral central pad. Additionally, in the posterior SII region that responded maximally to ipsilateral stimulation of the central pad, bilateral central pad stimulation approximated a linear summation of the SII responses to independent stimulation of the contralateral and ipsilateral central pads. Conversely, in anterior SII (the region that responded maximally to contralateral stimulation), bilateral stimulation was consistently less than the response evoked from the contralateral central pad. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that two regions located at neighboring, but distinctly different A-P levels of the anterior ectosylvian gyrus process input from opposite sides of the body midline in very different ways. The results suggest that the SII cortex, in the cat, can be subdivided into at least two functionally distinct regions and that these functionally distinct regions demonstrate a laterality preference within SII.

Animals↗