Neuroanatomical correlates of haptic object processing: combined evidence from tractography and functional neuroimaging
Brain Struct Funct. 2017-09-13; 223(2): 619-633
DOI: 10.1007/s00429-017-1510-3
Lire sur PubMed
1. Brain Struct Funct. 2018 Mar;223(2):619-633. doi: 10.1007/s00429-017-1510-3. Epub
2017 Sep 13.
Neuroanatomical correlates of haptic object processing: combined evidence from
tractography and functional neuroimaging.
Lee Masson H(1), Kang HM(2), Petit L(3), Wallraven C(4).
Author information:
(1)Department of Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven, 3000, Louvain, Belgium.
(2)Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul,
136-713, Korea.
(3)Groupe d’Imagerie Neurofonctionnelle, Institut Des Maladies
Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, CNRS, CEA University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France.
(4)Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul,
136-713, Korea. .
Touch delivers a wealth of information already from birth, helping infants to
acquire knowledge about a variety of important object properties using their
hands. Despite the fact that we are touch experts as much as we are visual
experts, surprisingly, little is known how our perceptual ability in touch is
linked to either functional or structural aspects of the brain. The present
study, therefore, investigates and identifies neuroanatomical correlates of
haptic perceptual performance using a novel, multi-modal approach. For this,
participants’ performance in a difficult shape categorization task was first
measured in the haptic domain. Using a multi-modal functional magnetic resonance
imaging and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging analysis pipeline,
functionally defined and anatomically constrained white-matter pathways were
extracted and their microstructural characteristics correlated with individual
variability in haptic categorization performance. Controlling for the effects of
age, total intracranial volume and head movements in the regression model, haptic
performance was found to correlate significantly with higher axial diffusivity in
functionally defined superior longitudinal fasciculus (fSLF) linking frontal and
parietal areas. These results were further localized in specific sub-parts of
fSLF. Using additional data from a second group of participants, who first
learned the categories in the visual domain and then transferred to the haptic
domain, haptic performance correlates were obtained in the functionally defined
inferior longitudinal fasciculus. Our results implicate SLF linking frontal and
parietal areas as an important white-matter track in processing touch-specific
information during object processing, whereas ILF relays visually learned
information during haptic processing. Taken together, the present results chart
for the first time potential neuroanatomical correlates and interactions of
touch-related object processing.
DOI: 10.1007/s00429-017-1510-3
PMID: 28905126