The long-term goal of the present project is to understand the cortical control of voluntary movements used to reach out, grasp and manipulate. These movements typically are considered as distinct processes, controlled from proximal versus distal sub-regions of the upper extremity representation in the primary motor cortex, and influenced via distinct inputs from dorsal versus ventral areas of the premotor cortex, respectively. Here we propose to investigate the neurophysiological activity underlying the seamless integration of reaching, grasping, and manipulation into a single coordinated motor act. Specifically, the present proposal aims to: 1) determine whether single neurons and other neurophysiological activity in the primary motor cortex, dorsal premotor cortex and ventral premotor cortex are modulated in relation to reaching, to grasping, or to both;2) determine how and where manipulative actions of the arm and hand are represented in the primary motor and premotor cortex;and 3) to determine how the grip forces and the load forces used in manipulation are represented and controlled. Improved understanding of these processes will lead to improved rehabilitation for functional recovery and to improved neuro-prosthetic devices for patients affected by numerous neurological diseases including stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain or spinal cord injury, and cerebral palsy.

Public Health Relevance

The long-term goal of the present project is to understand how the brain controls movements of the arm and hand used to reach out, grasp and manipulate objects. The present experiments will examine how neurophysiological activity in motor areas of the cerebral cortex integrates the seamless control of the multiple stages of reaching, grasping and manipulation. Improved understanding of these processes will lead to improved rehabilitation to functional recovery and improved neuro-prosthetic devices for patients affected by numerous neurological diseases including stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain or spinal cord injury, and cerebral palsy.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01NS079664-02
Application #
8466392
Study Section
Sensorimotor Integration Study Section (SMI)
Program Officer
Chen, Daofen
Project Start
2012-05-15
Project End
2017-02-28
Budget Start
2013-03-01
Budget End
2014-02-28
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2013
Total Cost
$361,839
Indirect Cost
$127,639
Name
University of Rochester
Department
Neurology
Type
Schools of Dentistry
DUNS #
041294109
City
Rochester
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
14627
Mazurek, Kevin A; Rouse, Adam G; Schieber, Marc H (2018) Mirror Neuron Populations Represent Sequences of Behavioral Epochs During Both Execution and Observation. J Neurosci 38:4441-4455
Smith, Ryan J; Soares, Alcimar B; Rouse, Adam G et al. (2018) Modeling task-specific neuronal ensembles improves decoding of grasp. J Neural Eng 15:036006
Schieber, Marc H (2018) Coordinates for the somatosensory homunculus. J Physiol 596:759-760
Aoki, Tomoko; Rivlis, Gil; Schieber, Marc H (2016) Handedness and index finger movements performed on a small touchscreen. J Neurophysiol 115:858-67
Jaynes, Molly J; Schieber, Marc H; Mink, Jonathan W (2016) Temporal and kinematic consistency predict sequence awareness. Exp Brain Res 234:3025-36
Rouse, Adam G; Schieber, Marc H (2016) Spatiotemporal distribution of location and object effects in the electromyographic activity of upper extremity muscles during reach-to-grasp. J Neurophysiol 115:3238-48
Schieber, Marc H (2016) Neuro-prosthetic interplay: Comment on ""Hand synergies: Integration of robotics and neuroscience for understanding the control of biological and artificial hands"" by M. Santello et al. Phys Life Rev 17:47-9
Rouse, Adam G (2016) A four-dimensional virtual hand brain-machine interface using active dimension selection. J Neural Eng 13:036021
Hotson, Guy; Smith, Ryan J; Rouse, Adam G et al. (2016) High Precision Neural Decoding of Complex Movement Trajectories using Recursive Bayesian Estimation with Dynamic Movement Primitives. IEEE Robot Autom Lett 1:676-683
Rouse, Adam G; Schieber, Marc H (2016) Spatiotemporal Distribution of Location and Object Effects in Primary Motor Cortex Neurons during Reach-to-Grasp. J Neurosci 36:10640-10653

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