Shared Neural Substrates Controlling Hand Movements in Human Motor Cortex

Voluntary hand movements in humans involve the primary motor cortex (M1). A functional magnetic resonance imaging method that measures relative cerebral blood flow was used to identify a distributed, overlapping pattern of hand movement representation within the posterior precentral gyrus, which con...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1995-06, Vol.268 (5218), p.1775-1777
Main Authors: Sanes, Jerome N., Donoghue, John P., Thangaraj, Venkatesan, Edelman, Robert R., Warach, Steven
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arm
Biological and medical sciences
Blood flow
Brain
Brain Mapping
Cerebrovascular Circulation
Fingers
Fingers - innervation
Fingers - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Hand - innervation
Hand - physiology
Hands
Humans
Imaging
Localization (Brain function)
Localization of functions
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Motor ability
Motor control and motor pathways. Reflexes. Control centers of vegetative functions. Vestibular system and equilibration
Motor cortex
Motor Cortex - blood supply
Motor Cortex - physiology
Motor skills
Movement - physiology
Nerve Net - physiology
Networks
Neural Pathways
Neurology
Neurons - physiology
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Physiological aspects
Primates
Psychomotor Skills
Skill Development
Space life sciences
Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
Wrist
Wrist - innervation
Wrist - physiology
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Description
Summary:Voluntary hand movements in humans involve the primary motor cortex (M1). A functional magnetic resonance imaging method that measures relative cerebral blood flow was used to identify a distributed, overlapping pattern of hand movement representation within the posterior precentral gyrus, which contains M1. The observed pattern resembles those reported in nonhuman primates and differs from a somatotopically organized plan typically used to portray human motor cortex organization. Finger and wrist movements activated a wide expanse of the posterior precentral gyrus, and representations for different finger movements overlapped each other and the wrist representation. Multiple sites of activation occurred in the precentral gyrus for all movements. The overlapping representations may mediate motor and cognitive functions requiring coordinated neural processing for finger and wrist actions rather than discrete control implied by somatotopic maps.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.7792606