Cortical Control of Grasp in Non-human Primates

The skilled use of the hand for grasping and manipulation of objects is a fundamental feature of the primate motor system. Grasping movements involve transforming the visual information about an object into a motor command appropriate for the coordinated activation of hand and finger muscles. The cerebral cortex and its descending projections to the spinal cord are known to play a crucial role for the control of grasp. Recent studies in non-human primates have provided some striking new insights into the respective contribution of the parietal and frontal motor cortical areas to the control of grasp. Also, new approaches allowed investigating the coupling of grasp-related activity in different cortical areas for the control of the descending motor command.