Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 18, 2026
07:30
Efficiently Recording the Eye-Hand Coordination to Incoordination Spectrum
Published on: March 21, 2019
8.5K
The Compositional Encoding of Hand-Eye Coordinated Movements for Single Neurons in the Posterior Parietal Cortex.
Nikos A Mynhier1,2, Jorge Gamez1, Kelsie Pejsa1
1Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
|April 17, 2026
Summary
Neural representations in the human posterior parietal cortex (PPC) are additively separable, allowing for modular decoding of hand-eye coordinated movements. This finding clarifies how the brain integrates hand and eye actions.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Motor Control
Background:
- The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is implicated in hand-eye coordination.
- The precise neural mechanisms for encoding combined hand and eye movements remain unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural encoding of hand-eye coordination in the human PPC.
- To determine if PPC neurons represent hand and eye movements independently or interactively.
Main Methods:
- Recorded single-neuron activity from motor cortex (MC) and PPC in a human participant during a center-out task.
- Analyzed neural modulation by hand and eye movements.
- Developed compositional decoders to assess movement representation separability.
Main Results:
- MC neurons showed minimal eye movement modulation.
- 79% of PPC neurons exhibited additive separability into independent hand and eye movement tuning curves.
- Compositional decoders achieved performance comparable to decoders trained on coordinated movements.
Conclusions:
- Human PPC utilizes compositionality to modularly represent and decode hand-eye coordinated movements.
- Hand movement encoding in MC is largely independent of eye movements during this task.
- This separability facilitates flexible integration of sensorimotor information.
Related Concept Videos
01:23Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex
5.1K
The somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobes is crucial for interpreting sensory data such as touch, temperature, and proprioception. The somatosensory cortex, situated in the parietal lobes, plays a vital role in interpreting sensory information like touch, temperature, and proprioception—awareness of body position. This specialized brain region features an organized structure wherein neurons at the top primarily process sensations originating from the lower body. In contrast, those at...
5.1K
01:14Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex
9.5K
The cerebral cortex, the brain's outermost layer, is pivotal in processing complex cognitive tasks, emotions, and various sensory inputs and executing voluntary motor activities. This intricate structure is divided into three primary functional areas: the motor areas, sensory areas, and association areas.
Motor Areas
The motor areas located in the frontal lobe are central to controlling voluntary movements. This region is further subdivided into the primary motor cortex and the premotor cortex....
Motor Areas
The motor areas located in the frontal lobe are central to controlling voluntary movements. This region is further subdivided into the primary motor cortex and the premotor cortex....
9.5K
01:21Association Areas of the Cortex
10.8K
Association areas are regions of the cerebral cortex that do not have a specific sensory or motor function. Instead, they integrate and interpret information from various sources to enable higher cognitive processes such as memory, learning, and decision-making. Some key association areas include the following:
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...
10.8K
01:24Vision
61.7K
Vision is the result of light being detected and transduced into neural signals by the retina of the eye. This information is then further analyzed and interpreted by the brain. First, light enters the front of the eye and is focused by the cornea and lens onto the retina—a thin sheet of neural tissue lining the back of the eye. Because of refraction through the convex lens of the eye, images are projected onto the retina upside-down and reversed.
61.7K
01:28Major Somatic Sensory Pathways
3.6K
Sensory impulses related to touch, pressure, vibration, and proprioception from various body parts, such as the limbs, trunk, neck, and posterior head, travel to the cerebral cortex through the posterior column-medial lemniscus pathway. The pathway’s name derives from the two white-matter tracts that convey the impulses: the spinal cord's posterior column and the brainstem's medial lemniscus. First-order sensory neurons extend their axons into the spinal cord, forming the...
3.6K
01:33Somatosensation
45.9K
The somatosensory system relays sensory information from the skin, mucous membranes, limbs, and joints. Somatosensation is more familiarly known as the sense of touch. A typical somatosensory pathway includes three types of long neurons: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary neurons have cell bodies located near the spinal cord in groups of neurons called dorsal root ganglia. The sensory neurons of ganglia innervate designated areas of skin called dermatomes.
45.9K