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Updated: May 23, 2026
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Design and Use of an Apparatus for Presenting Graspable Objects in 3D Workspace
Published on: August 8, 2019
Cortical dynamics of sensorimotor integration during grasp planning
Lennart Verhagen1, H Chris Dijkerman, W Pieter Medendorp
1Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. lennart.verhagen@donders.ru.nl
Summary
The anterior intraparietal sulcus (aIPS) is crucial for integrating object features during grasping. Disrupting aIPS impairs sensorimotor planning and the use of learned object knowledge.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Motor Control
Background:
- Object grasping relies on integrating spatial and perceptual features.
- Distinct neural pathways process spatial and perceptual information.
- The anterior intraparietal sulcus (aIPS) is a potential hub for sensorimotor integration.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the causal role of aIPS in sensorimotor integration during motor planning.
- To characterize the temporal dynamics of aIPS contributions.
- To determine if aIPS integrates both spatial and learned object knowledge.
Main Methods:
- Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for targeted brain interference.
- Electroencephalography (EEG) for recording brain activity.
- Psychophysical methods to assess behavioral responses during grasping tasks.
Main Results:
- Enhanced motor preparatory activity and finger trajectory congruency were observed with informative visual cues.
- Single-pulse TMS over aIPS disrupted these electrophysiological and behavioral enhancements.
- aIPS interference impaired the utilization of learned object knowledge in motor planning.
Conclusions:
- aIPS is essential for rapidly generating motor plans based on spatial and pictorial cues.
- aIPS dynamically integrates prior knowledge, particularly learned object information, into motor planning.
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