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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 19, 2026

Measurement of Spatial Stability in Precision Grip

Measurement of Spatial Stability in Precision Grip

Published on: June 4, 2020

Motor cortical function and the precision grip.

Nimeshan Geevasinga¹, Parvathi Menon¹, Matthew C Kiernan²

¹Sydney Medical School Westmead, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Physiological Reports

|December 16, 2014

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Motor cortex activity increases specifically during precision grip tasks, not power grips. This suggests specialized neural control for fine motor skills involving the hands.

Keywords:

Cortical excitability power grip precision grip

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Motor Control
Human Physiology

Background:

Task-dependent changes in motor cortical outputs are known.
Specificity of these changes for complex hand tasks like precision and power grips requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if cortical inhibitory tone and output differ between precision grip and power grip tasks.
To determine the specificity of motor cortex excitability changes during complex hand tasks.

Main Methods:

Utilized transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) threshold tracking technique in 15 healthy subjects.
Recorded motor-evoked potential (MEP) responses over the abductor pollicis brevis (APB) during rest, precision grip, and power grip.
Analyzed MEP amplitude, stimulus-response gradient, and short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI).

Main Results:

MEP amplitude and stimulus-response gradient were significantly higher during precision grip compared to rest and power grip.
Short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) was significantly reduced during precision grip.
Motor cortex excitability changes were specific to the precision grip task.

Conclusions:

Motor cortex excitability changes are specific to precision grip tasks.
Functional coupling of descending corticospinal pathways for thumb and finger movements may underlie these observed cortical changes.
Findings contribute to understanding the neural basis of fine motor control.