Attention modulates both primary and second somatosensory cortical activities in humans: a magnetoencephalographic study

To clarify the role of primary and second somatosensory cortex (SI and SII) in somatosensory discrimination, we recorded somatosensory evoked magnetic fields during a stimulus strength discrimination task. The temporal pattern of cortical activation was analyzed by dipole source model coregistered with magnetic resonance image. Stimulus intensity was represented in SI as early as 20 ms after the stimulus presentation. The later components of SI response (latency 37.7 and 67.9 ms) were enhanced by rarely presented stimuli (stimulus deviancy) during passive and active attention. This supports an early haptic memory mechanism in human primary sensory cortex. Contra- and ipsilateral SII responses followed the SI responses (latency 124.6 and 138.3 ms, respectively) and were enhanced by attention more prominently than the SI responses. Active attention increased SII but not SI activity. These results are consistent with the concept of ventral somatosensory pathway that SI and SII are hierarchically organized for passive and active detection of discrete stimuli.     

Present Status and Future Prospects of Laser Fusion Research at ILE Osaka University

Reviewed are the present status and future prospects of the laser fusion research at the ILE Osaka.The Gekko XII and Peta Watt laser system have been operated for investigating the implosion hydrodynamics,fast ignition, and the relativistic laser plasma interactions and so on.In particular,the fast ignition experiments with cone shell target have been in progress as the UK and US-Japan collaboration programs.In the experiments,the imploded high density plasmas are heated by irradiating 500 J level peta-watt laser pulse.The thermal neutron yield is found to increase by three orders of magnitude by injecting the peta-watt laser into the cone shell target.The Rayleigh-Taylor instability experiment results are also reviewed is this paper.