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Previous neurophysiological studies performed in macaque monkeys have shown that the secondary somatosensory cortex (SII) is essentially engaged in the processing of somatosensory information and no other sensory input has been reported. In contrast, recent human brain-imaging studies have revealed the effects of visual and auditory stimuli on SII activity, which suggest multisensory integration in the human SII. To determine whether multisensory responses of the SII also exist in nonhuman primates, we recorded single-unit activity in response to visual and auditory stimuli from the SII and surrounding regions in 8 hemispheres from 6 awake monkeys. Among 1157 recorded neurons, 306 neurons responded to visual stimuli. These visual neurons usually responded to rather complex stimuli, such as stimulation of the peripersonal space (40.5%), observation of human action (29.1%), and moving-object stimulation outside the monkey's reach (23.9%). We occasionally applied auditory stimuli to visual neurons and found 10 auditory-responsive neurons that exhibited somatosensory responses. The visual neurons were distributed continuously along the lateral sulcus covering the entire SII, along with other somatosensory neurons. These results highlight the need to investigate novel functional roles-other than somesthetic sensory processing-of the SII., (© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.)

Neural activity was recorded in the secondary somatosensory cortex (SII) of macaque monkeys during a simple feeding task. Around the border between the representations of the hand and face in SII, we found neurons that became active during both retrieving with the hand and eating; 59% had receptive fields (RFs) in the hand/face and the remaining 41% had no RFs. Neurons that responded to touching objects were rarely found. This suggests their sensorimotor function rather than tactile object recognition.

The anterior portion of the inferior parietal cortex possesses comprehensive representations of actions embedded in behavioural contexts. Mirror neurons, which respond to both self-executed and observed actions, exist in this brain region in addition to those originally found in the premotor cortex. We found that parietal mirror neurons responded differentially to identical actions embedded in different contexts. Another type of parietal mirror neuron represents an inverse and complementary property of responding equally to dissimilar actions made by itself and others for an identical purpose. Here, we propose a hypothesis that these sets of inferior parietal neurons constitute a neural basis for encoding the semantic equivalence of various actions across different agents and contexts. The neurons have mirror neuron properties, and they encoded generalization of agents, differentiation of outcomes, and categorization of actions that led to common functions. By integrating the activities of these mirror neurons with various codings, we further suggest that in the ancestral primates' brains, these various representations of meaningful action led to the gradual establishment of equivalence relations among the different types of actions, by sharing common action semantics. Such differential codings of the components of actions might represent precursors to the parts of protolanguage, such as gestural communication, which are shared among various members of a society. Finally, we suggest that the inferior parietal cortex serves as an interface between this action semantics system and other higher semantic systems, through common structures of action representation that mimic language syntax.

Neuronal activities of the anterior part of the inferior parietal lobule (area 7b or PF) were investigated in five awake Japanese monkeys. There were neurons which had specific combinations of receptive field (RF) locations, most typically in both the face and hand; we refer to these as Face-Hand neurons. The most interesting property of the Face-Hand neurons is that some of these neurons responded to specific behavior executed with synergism between the face (especially the mouth) and hand movements; namely, face-hand coordinated behavior (e.g., eating behavior). We call these cells Face-Hand coordination neurons (52% of all the Face-Hand neurons). These neurons discharged more strongly when the animal executed face-hand coordinated behavior, especially eating behavior, than when somatosensory stimuli were given to RFs passively, or when face movements and hand movements were executed separately. We thus propose that the neuronal activities of area 7b are related to the representation of face-hand coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-neuron activities were recorded in the hindlimb region of the primary somatosensory cortex and part of area 5 in awake Japanese monkeys. A total of 1050 units were isolated from five hemispheres of four animals. Receptive fields (RFs) and submodalities were identified for 90% of isolated neurons in areas 3a and 3b. The percentage decreased as the recoding site moved to the more caudal areas. Deep or skin submodality neurons were dominant in area 3a or area 3b, respectively. Deep submodality neurons increased in more caudal areas and were the majority in areas 2 and 5. These observations were consistent with those in the hand and/or digit or arm and/or trunk region. The identified neurons were classified by their RF positions into four types: the foot, leg, foot and leg, or hindlimb and other body parts type. Among 831 identified neurons, 33 neurons had bilateral RFs, 14 had ipsilateral RFs, and the rest (N=784) had contralateral RFs. The relative incidence of neurons with bilateral or ipsilateral RFs among identified neurons was less than 1% in areas 3a, 3b, and 1, and 16% or 25% in areas 2 or 5, respectively. Within areas 2 and 5, the percentage of neurons with bilateral or ipsilateral RFs was significantly smaller in the foot type (5%) than in other RF types (24–57%). RFs of the foot type were on the sole or single toe but never on multiple toes. These observations contrasted with the previous findings that neurons with bilateral RFs were more frequently seen in the hand and/or digit region and that RFs on multiple digit tips were dominant there. The present study thus demonstrated that neurons with bilateral RFs do exist in the hindlimb region. Similarly to the forelimb region, they were found mostly in areas 2 and 5, the caudalmost areas of the postcentral gyrus and hierarchically higher stages in information processing. The relative paucity of neurons with bilateral RFs on the foot, especially those with RFs on multiple toes, may reflect functional differences between the foot and the hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]