Brain Use of Sensory Information to Generate Movement

The role of multimodal brain regions for sensory-to-motor processing is not well understood. In our recent neuroimaging study with fMRI, we found that multimodal areas such as the right superior temporal cortex and right dorsal premotor cortex were activated during sensory instructed movements. These regions might contribute to extract common features or concepts from sensory stimuli, but we do not have firm experimental evidence yet. In order to investigate the functional roles of multimodal brain regions further, we propose to apply a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) technique. TMS can create transient brain lesions allowing functional mapping of cortical regions. In this protocol, by stimulating the multimodal areas using TMS, we will determine the functional role of these areas.