Control strategies in object manipulation tasks

Abstract

The remarkable manipulative skill of the human hand is not the result of rapid sensorimotor processes, nor of fast or powerful effector mechanisms. Rather, the secret lies in the way manual tasks are organized and controlled by the nervous system. At the heart of this organization is prediction. Successful manipulation requires the ability both to predict the motor commands required to grasp, lift, and move objects and to predict the sensory events that arise as a consequence of these commands.