Modulation of stimulus-induced 20-Hz activity for the tongue and hard palate during tongue movement in humans

Cortical Mechanisms of Tongue Sensorimotor Functions in Humans: A Review of the Magnetoencephalography Approach

The tongue plays important roles in a variety of critical human oral functions, including speech production, swallowing, mastication and respiration. These sophisticated tongue movements are in part finely regulated by cortical entrainment. Many studies have examined sensorimotor processing in the limbs using magnetoencephalography (MEG), which has high spatiotemporal resolution. Such studies have employed multiple methods of analysis, including somatosensory evoked fields (SEFs), movement-related cortical fields (MRCFs), event-related desynchronization/synchronization (ERD/ERS) associated with somatosensory stimulation or movement and cortico-muscular coherence (CMC) during sustained movement. However, the cortical mechanisms underlying the sensorimotor functions of the tongue remain unclear, as contamination artifacts induced by stimulation and/or muscle activity within the orofacial region complicates MEG analysis in the oral region. Recently, several studies have obtained MEG recordings from the tongue region using improved stimulation methods and movement tasks. In the present review, we provide a detailed overview of tongue sensorimotor processing in humans, based on the findings of recent MEG studies. In addition, we review the clinical applications of MEG for sensory disturbances of the tongue caused by damage to the lingual nerve. Increased knowledge of the physiological and pathophysiological mechanisms underlying tongue sensorimotor processing may improve our understanding of the cortical entrainment of human oral functions.

Movement-related cortical magnetic fields associated with self-paced tongue protrusion in humans

Sophisticated tongue movements are coordinated finely via cortical control. We elucidated the cortical processes associated with voluntary tongue movement. Movement-related cortical fields were investigated during self-paced repetitive tongue protrusion. Surface tongue electromyograms were recorded to determine movement onset. To identify the location of the primary somatosensory cortex (S1), tongue somatosensory evoked fields were measured. The readiness fields (RFs) over both hemispheres began prior to movement onset and culminated in the motor fields (MFs) around movement onset. These signals were followed by transient movement evoked fields (MEFs) after movement onset. The MF and MEF peak latencies and magnitudes were not different between the hemispheres. The MF current sources were located in the precentral gyrus, suggesting they were located in the primary motor cortex (M1); this was contrary to the MEF sources, which were located in S1. We conclude that the RFs and MFs mainly reflect the cortical processes for the preparation and execution of tongue movement in the bilateral M1, without hemispheric dominance. Moreover, the MEFs may represent proprioceptive feedback from the tongue to bilateral S1. Such cortical processing related to the efferent and afferent information may aid in the coordination of sophisticated tongue movements.