Parietal somatosensory association cortex mediates affective blindsight

Silke Anders; Niels Birbaumer; Bettina Sadowski; Michael Erb; Irina Mader; Wolfgang Grodd; Martin Lotze

doi:10.1038/nn1213

Parietal somatosensory association cortex mediates affective blindsight

Silke Anders^*, Niels Birbaumer, Bettina Sadowski, Michael Erb, Irina Mader, Wolfgang Grodd, Martin Lotze

^*Corresponding author for this work

Clinic of Neurology

University of Tubingen

78 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

To investigate the neural substrates underlying emotional feelings in the absence of a conscious stimulus percept, we presented a visual stimulus in the blind field of partially cortically blind patients and measured cortical activity (by functional magnetic resonance imaging, fMRI) before and after the stimulus had been paired with an aversive event. After pairing, self-reported negative emotional valence and blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses in somatosensory association areas were enhanced, whereby somatosensory activity predicted highly corresponding reported feelings and startle reflex amplitudes across subjects. Our data provide direct evidence that cortical activity representing physical emotional states governs emotional feelings.

Original language	English
Journal	Nature Neuroscience
Volume	7
Issue number	4
Pages (from-to)	339-340
Number of pages	2
ISSN	1097-6256
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1213
Publication status	Published - 01.04.2004

Funding

We thank H. Flor, K. Mathiak, R. Veit, N. Weiskopf, L. Weiskrantz and D. Wildgruber for helpful discussions, B. Newport, M. Hülsmann and B. Wietek for technical support, and H.O. Karnath, P. Stoerig and U. Schiefer for permitting us to include patients from their wards. This study was partly supported by the Volkswagen Foundation and the Junior Science Program of the Heidelberger Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

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This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being
SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities

Research Areas and Centers

Academic Focus: Center for Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM)

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AU - Mader, Irina

AU - Grodd, Wolfgang

AU - Lotze, Martin

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AB - To investigate the neural substrates underlying emotional feelings in the absence of a conscious stimulus percept, we presented a visual stimulus in the blind field of partially cortically blind patients and measured cortical activity (by functional magnetic resonance imaging, fMRI) before and after the stimulus had been paired with an aversive event. After pairing, self-reported negative emotional valence and blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses in somatosensory association areas were enhanced, whereby somatosensory activity predicted highly corresponding reported feelings and startle reflex amplitudes across subjects. Our data provide direct evidence that cortical activity representing physical emotional states governs emotional feelings.

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Parietal somatosensory association cortex mediates affective blindsight

Abstract

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