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Keeping the world at hand: rapid visuomotor processing for hand–object interactions

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An Erratum to this article was published on 22 May 2012

Abstract

The existence of hand-centred visual processing has long been established in the macaque premotor cortex. These hand-centred mechanisms have been thought to play some general role in the sensory guidance of movements towards objects, or, more recently, in the sensory guidance of object avoidance movements. We suggest that these hand-centred mechanisms play a specific and prominent role in the rapid selection and control of manual actions following sudden changes in the properties of the objects relevant for hand–object interactions. We discuss recent anatomical and physiological evidence from human and non-human primates, which indicates the existence of rapid processing of visual information for hand–object interactions. This new evidence demonstrates how several stages of the hierarchical visual processing system may be bypassed, feeding the motor system with hand-related visual inputs within just 70 ms following a sudden event. This time window is early enough, and this processing rapid enough, to allow the generation and control of rapid hand-centred avoidance and acquisitive actions, for aversive and desired objects, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. FMRIB Centre, Oxford University, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK

    Tamar R. Makin

  2. Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, RG6 7BE, UK

    Nicholas P. Holmes

  3. Brain, Body and Self Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, 17177, Stockholm, Sweden

    Claudio Brozzoli

  4. INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, Lyon Neuroscience Research Centre, ImpAct Team, 69000, Lyon, France

    Alessandro Farnè

  5. University Claude Bernard Lyon I, 69000, Lyon, France

    Alessandro Farnè

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  1. Tamar R. Makin
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  2. Nicholas P. Holmes
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  3. Claudio Brozzoli
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  4. Alessandro Farnè
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Correspondence to Tamar R. Makin.

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Makin, T.R., Holmes, N.P., Brozzoli, C. et al. Keeping the world at hand: rapid visuomotor processing for hand–object interactions. Exp Brain Res 219, 421–428 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3089-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3089-5

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