Human Cortical Control of Hand Movements: Parietofrontal Networks for Reaching, Grasping, and Pointing

In primates, control of the limb depends on many cortical areas. Whereas specialized parietofrontal circuits have been proposed for different movements in macaques, functional neuroimaging in humans has revealed widespread, overlapping activations for hand and eye movements and for movements such as...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Neuroscientist 2010-08, Vol.16 (4), p.388-407
Main Author: Filimon, Flavia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Brain Mapping
Eye Movements - physiology
Frontal Lobe - physiology
Hand - physiology
Hand Strength - physiology
Humans
Macaca
Movement - physiology
Nerve Net - physiology
Neural Pathways - physiology
Parietal Lobe - physiology
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Summary:In primates, control of the limb depends on many cortical areas. Whereas specialized parietofrontal circuits have been proposed for different movements in macaques, functional neuroimaging in humans has revealed widespread, overlapping activations for hand and eye movements and for movements such as reaching and grasping. This review examines the involvement of frontal and parietal areas in hand and arm movements in humans as revealed with functional neuroimaging. The degree of functional specialization, possible homologies with macaque cortical regions, and differences between frontal and posterior parietal areas are discussed, as well as a possible organization of hand movements with respect to different spatial reference frames. The available evidence supports a cortical organization along gradients of sensory (visual to somatosensory) and effector (eye to hand) preferences.
ISSN:1073-8584
1089-4098
DOI:10.1177/1073858410375468