Moving tactile stimuli have been reported to activate MT+ in humans (Hagen et al., 2002; Blake et al., 2004). While provocative, these studies did not examine the role of stimulus type, attention, task demand or generality to other primates. In studies in humans and squirrel monkeys (Nelson et al., SFN 2005; Aparicio & Moore, SFN 2005), we have begun to delineate the factors necessary for tactile activation of MT+. In the present study, we examined the hypothesis that non-moving vibrotactile stimuli activate MT+. In an event-related design, human Ss (N = 7) received tactile stimulation (20 or 100 Hz) on the 3rd digit fingertip during 3T fMRI. Stimulus amplitude varied from 0-200um. Subjects performed tactile detection overtly (button press) or covertly, or performed no task during stimulation (‘passive’). Visually, subjects fixated a ‘+’ symbol, and appearance of a colored rectangle indicated covert or overt trials. No visual cue was present on passive trials. In 2 Ss, MT+ was functionally defined (oscilla...