Journal
CURRENT BIOLOGY
Volume 20, Issue 2, Pages 176-181Publisher
CELL PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2009.11.063
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Wellcome Trust [WT083450]
- Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS, Belgium)
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The cortical visuomotor grasping circuit, comprising the anterior intraparietal area (AIP), ventral premotor (PMv), and primary motor cortex (M1) allows transformation of an object's physical properties into a suitable motor command for grasp [1-9]. However, little is known about how AIP contributes to the processing of grasp-related information conveyed through the cortical grasping circuit. We addressed this by studying the consequences of AIP virtual lesions on physiological interactions between PMv and M1 at rest or during preparation to grasp objects with either a precision grip or a whole-hand grasp. We used a conditioning-test transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) paradigm to test how PMv-M1 interactions [10-12] were modified by disrupting AIP function with theta-burst TMS (cTBS) [13]. At rest, AIP virtual lesions did not modify PMv-M1 interactions. In contrast, the usual muscle-specific PMv-M1 interactions that appeared during grasp preparation were significantly reduced following AIP cTBS without directly modifying corticospinal excitability. Behaviorally, disruption of AIP was also associated with a relative loss of the grasp-specific pattern of digit muscle activity. These findings suggest that grasp-related and muscle-specific PMv-M1 interactions are driven by information about object properties provided by AIP.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available