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The Journal of Neuroscience, April 11, 2007, 27(15):3974-3980; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0426-07.2007

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Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Temporal Dissociation between Hand Shaping and Grip Force Scaling in the Anterior Intraparietal Area

Marco Davare,¹ Michael Andres,^1,3 Emeline Clerget,¹ Jean-Louis Thonnard,² and Etienne Olivier¹

¹Laboratory of Neurophysiology and ²Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine Unit, Université Catholique de Louvain, 1200 Brussels, Belgium, and ³Unité de Neurosciences Cognitives, Université Catholique de Louvain, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Correspondence should be addressed to Etienne Olivier, Laboratory of Neurophysiology, Université Catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 54, 1200 Brussels, Belgium. Email: olivier{at}nefy.ucl.ac.be

In humans, both clinical and functional imaging studies have evidenced the critical role played by the posterior parietal cortex, and particularly by the anterior intraparietal area (AIP), in skilled hand movements. However, the exact contribution of AIP to precision grasping remains debated. Here we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to induce virtual lesions of the left and/or right AIP in subjects performing a grip-lift task with either hand.

We found that, during movement preparation, a virtual lesion of AIP had distinct consequences on precision grasping of either hand depending on its time of occurrence: TMS applied 270–220 ms before the fingers contacted the manipulandum altered specifically the hand shaping, whereas lesions induced 170–120 ms before contact time only affected the grip force scaling. The lateralization of these two processes in AIP is also strikingly different: whereas a bilateral lesion of AIP was necessary to impair hand shaping, only a unilateral lesion of the left AIP altered the grip force scaling in either hand.

The present study shows that, during movement preparation, AIP is responsible for processing two distinct, temporally dissociated, precision grasping parameters, regardless of the hand in use. This indicates that the contribution of AIP to hand movements is "effector- independent," a finding that may explain the invariance of grasping movements performed with either hand.

Key words: hand shaping; transcranial magnetic stimulation; grip force scaling; finger; effector-independent; dominance

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Received Oct. 17, 2006; revised March 6, 2007; accepted March 8, 2007.

Correspondence should be addressed to Etienne Olivier, Laboratory of Neurophysiology, Université Catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 54, 1200 Brussels, Belgium. Email: olivier{at}nefy.ucl.ac.be

This article has been cited by other articles:

				O. Collignon, M. Davare, A. G. De Volder, C. Poirier, E. Olivier, and C. Veraart Time-course of Posterior Parietal and Occipital Cortex Contribution to Sound Localization J. Cogn. Neurosci., August 1, 2008; 20(8): 1454 - 1463. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. Koch, M. F. Del Olmo, B. Cheeran, S. Schippling, C. Caltagirone, J. Driver, and J. C. Rothwell Functional Interplay between Posterior Parietal and Ipsilateral Motor Cortex Revealed by Twin-Coil Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation during Reach Planning toward Contralateral Space J. Neurosci., June 4, 2008; 28(23): 5944 - 5953. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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