Formation and lateralization of internal representations underlying motor commands during precision grip

Neuropsychologia. 1994 May;32(5):555-68. doi: 10.1016/0028-3932(94)90144-9.

Abstract

The capability to store and retrieve weight-related information from a lift to scale the force output during a subsequent lift was examined in 10 healthy adults and 50 children (age 2-10 years), as well as a 22-year-old patient with corpus callosum agenesis. Subjects lifted a test object between the thumb and index finger while the isometric fingertip forces were measured. The results suggest that both healthy children and adults can transfer weight-related information between the right and left hand, although a lateralization was found. Also, the storage and retrieval of weight-related information appears to be a dynamic process dependent on both previous sensory information and knowledge of future movements. Late maturation of interhemispheric connections and asymmetric loss of some information during the transfer between hemispheres suggest a lateralization of the internal representation. The patient with a corpus callosum agenesis supported this hypothesis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Agenesis of Corpus Callosum*
  • Attention / physiology
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Corpus Callosum / physiopathology
  • Dominance, Cerebral / physiology*
  • Female
  • Functional Laterality / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Imagination / physiology*
  • Isometric Contraction / physiology*
  • Kinesthesis / physiology*
  • Male
  • Reference Values
  • Serial Learning / physiology
  • Weight Perception / physiology
  • Weight-Bearing / physiology