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Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Design and Use of an Apparatus for Presenting Graspable Objects in 3D Workspace
Published on: August 8, 2019
Cortical control of grasp in non-human primates
Thomas Brochier1, Maria Alessandra Umiltà
1Institut de Neurosciences Cognitives de la Méditerranée - INCM, UMR 6193, CNRS - Université de la Méditerranée, 31 chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402 Marseille 20, France. Thomas.Brochier@incm.cnrs-mrs.fr
Abstract:
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.
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