Simultaneous recording of macaque premotor and primary motor cortex neuronal populations reveals different functional contributions to visuomotor grasp.

Full Abstract

To understand the relative contributions of primary motor cortex (M1) and area F5 of the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) to visually guided grasp, we made simultaneous multiple electrode recordings from the hand representations of these two areas in two adult macaque monkeys. The monkeys were trained to fixate, reach out and grasp one of six objects presented in a pseudorandom order. In M1 326 task-related neurons, 104 of which were identified as pyramidal tract neurons, and 138 F5 neurons were analyzed as separate populations. All three populations showed activity that distinguished the six objects grasped by the monkey. These three populations responded in a manner that generalized across different sets of objects. F5 neurons showed object/grasp related tuning earlier than M1 neurons in the visual presentation and premovement periods. Also F5 neurons generally showed a greater preference for particular objects/grasps than did M1 neurons. F5 neurons remained tuned to a particular grasp throughout both the premovement and reach-to-grasp phases of the task, whereas M1 neurons showed different selectivity during the different phases. We also found that different types of grasp appear to be represented by different overall levels of activity within the F5-M1 circuit. Altogether these properties are consistent with the notion that F5 grasping-related neurons play a role in translating visual information about the physical properties of an object into the motor commands that are appropriate for grasping, and which are elaborated within M1 for delivery to the appropriate spinal machinery controlling hand and digit muscles.

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Author information

Author/s: Umilta, M A (MA); Brochier, T (T); Spinks, R L (RL); Lemon, R N (RN);

Affiliation: Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK.

Grants: (Agency:Wellcome Trust)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of neurophysiology (J Neurophysiol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Jul; vol 98 (issue 1) : pp 488-501

Dates: Created 2007/07/11; Completed 2007/10/02;

PMID: 17329624, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Functional Laterality
Hand Strength - physiology
Macaca mulatta
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Motor Cortex - cytology
Neurons - physiology
Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology
Photic Stimulation - methods
Psychomotor Performance - physiology

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