Selectivity for Three-Dimensional Shape and Grasping-Related Activity in the Macaque Ventral Premotor Cortex

Selectivity for grip type and action goal in macaque inferior parietal and ventral premotor grasping neurons.

Grasping objects requires the selection of specific grip postures in relation to the objects' physical properties. Furthermore, grasping acts can be embedded in actions aimed at different goals, depending on the context in which the action is performed. Here we assessed whether information on grip and action type integrate at the single-neuron level within the parieto-frontal motor system. For ...

Monkey in the Ventral Premotor Area F5 of the Macaque Functional Properties of Grasping-Related Neurons

Functional properties of grasping-related neurons in the ventral premotor area F5 of the macaque monkey.

We investigated the motor and visual properties of F5 grasping neurons, using a controlled paradigm that allows the study of the neuronal discharge during both observation and grasping of many different three-dimensional objects with and without visual guidance. All neurons displayed a preference for grasping of an object or a set of objects. The same preference was maintained when grasping was...

Neurons Controlling Voluntary Vocalization in the Macaque Ventral Premotor Cortex

The voluntary control of phonation is a crucial achievement in the evolution of speech. In humans, ventral premotor cortex (PMv) and Broca's area are known to be involved in voluntary phonation. In contrast, no neurophysiological data are available about the role of the oro-facial sector of nonhuman primates PMv in this function. In order to address this issue, we recorded PMv neurons from two ...

Context-specific grasp movement representation in macaque ventral premotor cortex.

Hand grasping requires the transformation of sensory signals to hand movements. Neurons in area F5 (ventral premotor cortex) represent specific grasp movements (e.g., precision grip) as well as object features like orientation, and are involved in movement preparation and execution. Here, we examined how F5 neurons represent context-dependent grasping actions in macaques. We used a delayed gras...