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Yes, there is very consistent correspondence between areas in the primary sensory and motor cortex and body parts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortical_homun

Yes, there is very consistent correspondence between areas in the primary sensory and motor cortex and body parts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortical_homunculus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortical_homunculus As a someone interested in AI this research is quite interesting to me. It gives us a benchmark that we can compare with machine learning algorithms. How much better can human brain handle novel sensomotory tasks? > The neural activity that controls finger movement is the finger itself, as far as the brain is concerned; it's not "representing" anything. I don't understand what you are trying to say.

shannifin 5y ago
The article says: "In our brains, each finger is represented distinctly from the others; among the study participants, the brain activity pattern corresponding to each individual finger became more similar (less distinct)." I'm just not sure what the significance of this is. It doesn't seem to tell us much by itself. Maybe it will be more meaningful after further research. (Or maybe I'm just missing something.) My other point regarding the word "representation" was more of a semantics issue. Neural activity in the sensorimotor cortex is the sensorimotor skill itself. I think saying fingers are "represented" in the sensorimotor cortex, while perhaps not technically wrong, is potentially misleading, as it implies a separation between the "representative" and the "represented". The fingers and the sensorimotor cortex are connected, they're part of a system, so changes in sensorimotor skill naturally imply changes in neural activity in the sensorimotor cortex (and, by extension, specific areas of neural activity); you don't need an fMRI to know that, although the fMRI may tell us what changed (at least to the degree that we can measure it). (Although, again, I'm still not really sure what the significance of such changes are.) The headline "Robotic 'Third Thumb' use can alter brain representation of the hand" could just as well be "Robotic 'Third Thumb' use can alter brain activity", which is far less intriguing. Using the word "representation" makes it sound (at least to me) like there's more to it, something between the fingers and their "representations" that is shifting things. Obviously there is some sort of learning process the brain uses to adapt, but just noting changes via fMRI does not, by itself, tell us anything about it. (Again, maybe it will be more meaningful in a greater context after further research.)

shannifin 5y ago

The article says: "In our brains, each finger is represented distinctly from the others; among the study participants, the brain activity pattern corresponding to each individual finger became more similar (less distinct)." I'm just not sure what the significance of this is. It doesn't seem to tell us much by itself. Maybe it will be more meaningful after further research. (Or maybe I'm just missing something.) My other point regarding the word "representation" was more of a semantics issue. Neural activity in the sensorimotor cortex is the sensorimotor skill itself. I think saying fingers are "represented" in the sensorimotor cortex, while perhaps not technically wrong, is potentially misleading, as it implies a separation between the "representative" and the "represented". The fingers and the sensorimotor cortex are connected, they're part of a system, so changes in sensorimotor skill naturally imply changes in neural activity in the sensorimotor cortex (and, by extension, specific areas of neural activity); you don't need an fMRI to know that, although the fMRI may tell us what changed (at least to the degree that we can measure it). (Although, again, I'm still not really sure what the significance of such changes are.) The headline "Robotic 'Third Thumb' use can alter brain representation of the hand" could just as well be "Robotic 'Third Thumb' use can alter brain activity", which is far less intriguing. Using the word "representation" makes it sound (at least to me) like there's more to it, something between the fingers and their "representations" that is shifting things. Obviously there is some sort of learning process the brain uses to adapt, but just noting changes via fMRI does not, by itself, tell us anything about it. (Again, maybe it will be more meaningful in a greater context after further research.)