Control of proximal and distal components of prehension in callosal agenesis

Classic work with split-brain monkeys suggests that the reaching limb can be controlled by either cerebral hemisphere, but that finger control is largely crossed (Haaxma and Kuypers, 1974). Accordingly, one might predict that acallosal subjects should have little difficulty grasping objects presented in the visual field ipsilateral to the hand used, but should have great difficulty forming their grasp when reaching into crossed space. In the present study, we carried out a kinematic analysis of reaching and grasping movements executed by four acallosal subjects and four matched control subjects. Subjects maintained central fixation while reaching with either hand for objects placed in left, central and right space. Relative to controls, acallosal subjects took longer to complete reaches directed across the body midline, and spent more time decelerating. Moreover, unlike controls, their grip formation appeared to be impaired in all regions of space, although this deficit was most pronounced during reaches into crossed space. These results suggest that congenital absence of the corpus callosum is associated with deficits in the control of both the proximal and distal musculature.