Somatosensory system: organizational hierarchy from single units in monkey area 5.

The receptive fields of single cells in area 5 of monkey parietal cortex were studied by extracellular recording. Cells were driven primarily by gentle manipulation of multiple joints residing on one or more limbs. Both excitatory and inhibitory convergence were demonstrated. It is postulated that the multijoint receptive fields of area 5 are the result of convergence from single-joint cells of the primary receiving area. An analogy is drawn between the modification of information in the visual and somatosensory systems.