Historical survey. The concept of a sensorimotor cortex: its later history during the twentieth century

Abstract

This paper continues the historical review on the concept of a sensorimotor cortex into the twentieth century. Paul Flechsig was probably the first to accept this concept after the turn of the century. Like Munk, he believed in an almost reflex-like unity between cortical sensory and motor function. With the help of his myelogenetic technique, Flechsig also demonstrated convincingly in the human brain that the two Rolandic convolutions receive a separate influx of thalamic afferents. Had this finding met with more attention, much experimental work by some of the distinguished later investigators might have proved to be unnecessary. Research has now reached a state when an early plausible explanation of the problem may be confidently expected.