ArticleCerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)2018
Somatotopic Mapping of the Developing Sensorimotor Cortex in the Preterm Human Brain.
Article in Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed.
- A cascading effects model of early sensory development in autism.Psychological review · 2026Review
- Precision functional neuroimaging reveals individually specific auditory responses in infants.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- Precision Functional Neuroimaging Reveals Individually Specific Auditory Responses in Infants.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Cortical reorganization following dorsal spinal injuries in newborn monkeys reveals a critical period in the development of the somatosensory cortex.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Co-developing sleep-wake and sensory foundations for cognition in the human fetus and newborn.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2025Review
- Investigating Task-Free Functional Connectivity Patterns in Newborns Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy.Brain and behavior · 2024Article
- Helpless infants are learning a foundation model.Trends in cognitive sciences · 2024Review
- A Whole-Brain Topographic Ontology.Annual review of neuroscience · 2024Review
- Neonatal brain dynamic functional connectivity in term and preterm infants and its association with early childhood neurodevelopment.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Age-related differences in structural and resting-state functional brain network organization across the adult lifespan: A cross-sectional study.Aging brain · 2024Article
- Against cortical reorganisation.eLife · 2023Article
- Cortical signatures of visual body representation develop in human infancy.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Structural and functional asymmetry of the neonatal cerebral cortex.Nature human behaviour · 2023Article
- Baby Brains at Work: How Task-Based Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Can Illuminate the Early Emergence of Psychiatric Risk.Biological psychiatry · 2023Review
- Bilateral Painful Hand Seizures: An Atypical Somatotopic Syndrome.The Neurohospitalist · 2022Article
- The developing brain structural and functional connectome fingerprint.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2022Article
- Development of functional organization within the sensorimotor network across the perinatal period.Human brain mapping · 2022Article
- Article
- An ode to fetal, infant, and toddler neuroimaging: Chronicling early clinical to research applications with MRI, and an introduction to an academic society connecting the field.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2022Review
- Intelligent Somatosensory Interactive Activities Restore Motor Function to Children with Autism.Journal of healthcare engineering · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
In the mature mammalian brain, the primary somatosensory and motor cortices are known to be spatially organized such that neural activity relating to specific body parts can be somatopically mapped onto an anatomical "homunculus". This organization creates an internal body representation which is fundamental for precise motor control, spatial awareness and social interaction. Although it is unknown when this organization develops in humans, animal studies suggest that it may emerge even before the time of normal birth. We therefore characterized the somatotopic organization of the primary sensorimotor cortices using functional MRI and a set of custom-made robotic tools in 35 healthy preterm infants aged from 31 + 6 to 36 + 3 weeks postmenstrual age. Functional responses induced by somatosensory stimulation of the wrists, ankles, and mouth had a distinct spatial organization as seen in the characteristic mature homunculus map. In comparison to the ankle, activation related to wrist stimulation was significantly larger and more commonly involved additional areas including the supplementary motor area and ipsilateral sensorimotor cortex. These results are in keeping with early intrinsic determination of a somatotopic map within the primary sensorimotor cortices. This may explain why acquired brain injury in this region during the preterm period cannot be compensated for by cortical reorganization and therefore can lead to long-lasting motor and sensory impairment.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.