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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Data All Versions of this Article: 102/3/1911    most recent 00519.2009v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Averbeck, B. B. Articles by Caminiti, R. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Averbeck, B. B. Articles by Caminiti, R.

Statistical Analysis of Parieto-Frontal Cognitive-Motor Networks

¹Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom; ²Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy; and ³Department of Neurophysiology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

Submitted 15 June 2009; accepted in final form 16 July 2009

Abstract

Considerable information has been gathered on the anatomical connectivity within the parieto-frontal network of the primate brain. To examine the statistical regularities in this connectivity, we carried out hierarchical cluster analysis and found statistically significant clusters of areas: four in the parietal and six in the frontal lobe. Clusters were based on patterns of inputs from all cortical areas. Both parietal and frontal clusters were composed of sets of spatially contiguous architectonic areas. The four parietal clusters were composed of sets of anterior (somatosensory), dorsal, inferior, and medio-lateral parietal cortical areas. The six frontal clusters were composed of sets of dorsal premotor, ventral premotor, primary motor, cingulate motor, and dorsal and ventral prefrontal cortical areas. Furthermore, connectivity between frontal and parietal clusters was topographic and reciprocal. Thus we found substantial statistical structure and organization in the parieto-frontal network that gives a simplified but accurate description of this system.