Wilder Penfield in the age of YouTube: visualizing the sequential activation of sensorimotor areas across neocortex

Abstract

Flow of electrical activity across neocortex is essential for many sensorimotor tasks. Whether this flow is localized or spreads widely is unknown. Ferezou et al., imaging activity across the cortical mantle in awake mice, show in this issue of Neuron that touch by a single vibrissa leads to a rapid depolarization of primary sensory and motor areas that subsequently spreads across most of cortex.