Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40800778›Full record

ArticleImaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)2025

Distinguishing the activity of adjacent somatosensory nuclei within the brainstem using 3T fMRI.

Paige Howell, Ingrid Odermatt, Olivia Harrison, Finn Rabe, Sarah Meissner, Patrick Freund, Nicole Wenderoth, Sanne Kikkert

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Paige HowellNeural Control of Movement Lab, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9176-3200
Ingrid OdermattNeural Control of Movement Lab, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0001-5900-3391
Olivia HarrisonDepartment of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0897-7142
Finn RabeNeural Control of Movement Lab, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0007-2897-5204
Sarah MeissnerNeural Control of Movement Lab, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5957-7897
Patrick FreundSpinal Cord Injury Center Balgrist, University Hospital Zürich, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4851-2246
Nicole WenderothNeural Control of Movement Lab, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3246-9386
Sanne KikkertNeural Control of Movement Lab, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9952-4864

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Experimental evidence in animal models indicates that the brainstem plays a major role in sensory modulation. However, mapping functional activity within the human brainstem presents many methodological challenges. These constraints have deterred essential research into human sensory brainstem processing. Here, using a 3T functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) sequence optimised for the brainstem, combined with uni- and multivariate analysis approaches, we investigated the extent to which functional activity of neighbouring somatosensory nuclei can be delineated in the brainstem, thalamus, and primary somatosensory cortex (S1). Whilst traditional univariate approaches offered limited differentiation between adjacent hand and face activation in the brainstem, multivariate classification enabled above-chance decoding of these activity patterns across S1, the thalamus, and the brainstem. Our findings establish a robust methodological approach to explore signal processing within the brainstem and across the entire somatosensory stream. This is a fundamental step towards broadening our understanding of somatosensory processing within humans and determining what changes in sensory integration may occur in clinical populations following sensory deprivation.

Indexed as

brainstemclassificationfMRIMVPAsensorimotorsomatosensory

Identifiers

PMID40800778
PMCPMC12319763

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Registered trials

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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.