Skip Navigation



Cerebral Cortex Advance Access published online on November 24, 2004
Cerebral Cortex, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhh203
© 2004 by Oxford University Press
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
15/7/1025    most recent
bhh203v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Terao, Y.
Right arrow Articles by Ugawa, Y.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Terao, Y.
Right arrow Articles by Ugawa, Y.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Article

Interhemispheric Transmission of Visuomotor Information for Motor Implementation

Yasuo Terao 1*, Toshiaki Furubayashi 1, Shingo Okabe 1, Noritoshi Arai 1, Hitoshi Mochizuki 2, Shunsuke Kobayashi 3, Masato Yumoto 4, Masami Nishikawa 5, Nobue K. Iwata 3, and Yoshikazu Ugawa 3

1 Department of Neurology, Division of Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan 113-8655
2 Third Department of Internal Medicine, National Defense Medical College, Tokyo, Japan 113-8655
3 Department of Neurology, Division of Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan 113-8655
4 Department of Clinical Laboratory, Division of Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan 113-8655
5 Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Division of Medical Science, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan 113-8655

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Yasuo Terao, E-mail: yterao-tky{at}umin.ac.jp


  Abstract

Using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), we addressed the contribution of both hemispheres to the visuomotor control of each hand. The subjects had to press one of two buttons as quickly as possible after the go-signal. A precue preceding this conveyed full, partial or no advance information (hand and/or button), such that reaction time (RT) shortened with increasing amount of information. We gave TMS over each hemisphere at various time intervals (100-350 ms) after the go-signal and before the expected onset of response, and measured its effect on RT, movement time (MT) and error rate. At short intervals (100-200 ms), left hemisphere TMS delayed RT and prolonged MT of both hands, while right hemisphere TMS delayed RT only of the right hand, without affecting error rates. At long intervals (250-350 ms), TMS produced slightly more pronounced RT delays of the contralateral hand. RT was delayed more if the precues were less informative. The results suggest the importance of interhemispheric transmission of visuomotor information for motor implementation. The right hemisphere may play a role mainly in calculating target and effector information, determining RT, while the left hemisphere may play a role in elaborating the motor program and determining MT.

Keywords: hemispheric lateralization; interhemispheric transmission; reaction time; transcranial magnetic stimulation; motor implementation.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.