The Role of Primary Motor Cortex as a Marker for and Modulator of Pain Control and Emotional-affective Processing

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Editorial

23 May 2017

Editorial: The Role of Primary Motor Cortex as a Marker and Modulator of Pain Control and Emotional-Affective Processing

Jorge Leite

,

Sandra Carvalho

,

Linamara R. Battistella

,

Wolnei Caumo

and

Felipe Fregni

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11 citations

Editors

5

Felipe Fregni

Harvard Medical School

WOLNEI CAUMO

Laboratory of Pain & Neuromodulation, Clinical Hospital of Porto Alegre

Linamara Rizzo Battistella

Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo

Sandra Carvalho

School of Psychology, University of Minho

Jorge Leite

Portucalense University, Portucalense Institute for Human Development, INPP

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More than 60 years have passed since Wilder Penfield applied cortical electrical stimulation to define what has become one of the landmarks on neuroscience: a map of the primary motor cortex (M1 - cortical homunculus). Ever since, development of new tools to investigate brain function noninvasively increased knowledge about the structure and functions of the M1 in both humans and animals.

Especially for studies in humans, noninvasive tools have a special importance, because they allowed partially replicating Penfield's work noninvasively, by means of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS); or the concomitant study of the structure and function of the brain by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This development also allowed an understanding of the relationship between the motor cortex and other non-motor brain areas, such as those involved in cognition, pain and mood processing.

By understanding how M1 modulates distant neural structures and its relationship with respective brain behavior, M1 can also be used as a potential marker for clinical applications, and also to guide neuromodulatory therapeutic options. It is known, for instance, that M1 has connections with several areas of the brain, and the stimulation of motor cortex can induce changes in other systems, as it has been already demonstrated by the unraveling of several cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical loops (CSTC).

This research topic welcomes articles concerned with the relationship between M1 and behavior, namely those related to pain and emotional-affective processing. We are interested in both theoretical and empirical contributions related to electrophysiological, pharmacological, neuroimaging and neuromodulatory studies.

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Editors

Felipe Fregni

Harvard Medical School

WOLNEI CAUMO

Laboratory of Pain & Neuromodulation, Clinical Hospital of Porto Alegre

Linamara Rizzo Battistella

Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo

Sandra Carvalho

School of Psychology, University of Minho

Jorge Leite

Portucalense University, Portucalense Institute for Human Development, INPP

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114,781 Total views

85,277 Article views

24,831 Article downloads

4,673 Topic views

Published In

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

Human Neuroscience Archive, Brain Imaging and Stimulation, Brain-Computer Interfaces, Cognitive Neuroscience, Motor Neuroscience, Sensory Neuroscience

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