When pliers become fingers in the monkey motor system.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Umilta MA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC2538900 | biostudies-other | 2008 Feb
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Publications
When pliers become fingers in the monkey motor system.
Umiltà M A MA Escola L L Intskirveli I I Grammont F F Rochat M M Caruana F F Jezzini A A Gallese V V Rizzolatti G G
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20080131 6
The capacity to use tools is a fundamental evolutionary achievement. Its essence stands in the capacity to transfer a proximal goal (grasp a tool) to a distal goal (e.g., grasp food). Where and how does this goal transfer occur? Here, we show that, in monkeys trained to use tools, cortical motor neurons, active during hand grasping, also become active during grasping with pliers, as if the pliers were now the hand fingers. This motor embodiment occurs both for normal pliers and for "reverse plie ...[more]
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