RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Selectivity for Three-Dimensional Shape and Grasping-Related Activity in the Macaque Ventral Premotor Cortex
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 12038
OP 12050
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1790-12.2012
VO 32
IS 35
A1 Tom Theys
A1 Pierpaolo Pani
A1 Johannes van Loon
A1 Jan Goffin
A1 Peter Janssen
YR 2012
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/32/35/12038.abstract
AB Anatomical studies indicate that area F5 in the macaque ventral premotor cortex consists of three different sectors. One of these is F5a in the posterior bank of the inferior arcuate sulcus, but no functional characterization of F5a at the single-cell level exists. We investigated the neuronal selectivity for three-dimensional (3D) shape and grasping activity in F5a. In contrast to neighboring regions F5p and 45B, the great majority of F5a neurons showed selectivity for disparity-defined curved surfaces, and most neurons preserved this selectivity across positions in depth, indicating higher-order disparity selectivity. Thus, as predicted by monkey fMRI data, F5a neurons showed robust 3D-shape selectivity in the absence of a motor response. To investigate the relationship between disparity selectivity and grasping activity, we recorded from 3D-shape-selective F5a neurons during a visually guided grasping task and during grasping in the dark. F5a neurons encoding the depth profile of curved surfaces frequently responded during grasping of real-world objects in the light, but not in the dark, whereas nearby neurons were also active in the dark. The presence of 3D-shape-selective and “visual-dominant” neurons demonstrates that the F5a sector is distinct from neighboring regions of ventral premotor cortex, in line with recent anatomical connectivity studies.