INTERACTION OF CORTICAL RESPONSES TO SOMATIC AND AUDITORY STIMULI IN ANTERIOR ECTOSYLVIAN GYRUS OF CAT

Abstract

Interaction was observed in the anterior ectosylvian gyrus of the cat between responses to click stimuli and responses to electrical stimulation of the contralateral superficial radial nerve. Interaction was observed in the same gyrus between responses to click stimuli and responses to electrical stimulation of the skin of the forelimb. The extent to which interaction occurs depends upon the order of presentation of and the interval between the stimuli. Interaction was most marked in the region of transition between the second somatic and second auditory areas. From the fact that responses to somatic and auditory stimuli interact in a manner that cannot be accounted for on the basis of algebraic summation of potentials it is concluded that neither of these potentials is recorded exponentially from a distant source, but both indeed originate within the anterior ectosylvian gyrus. True overlap of somatic and auditory response fields thus exists in this gyrus.