eprintid: 3170
rev_number: 8
eprint_status: archive
userid: 69
dir: disk0/00/00/31/70
datestamp: 2016-03-01 10:32:04
lastmod: 2016-09-12 08:28:51
status_changed: 2016-03-01 10:32:04
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Leo, Andrea
creators_name: Handjaras, Giacomo
creators_name: Bianchi, Matteo
creators_name: Marino, Hamal
creators_name: Gabiccini, Marco
creators_name: Guidi, Andrea
creators_name: Scilingo, Enzo Pasquale
creators_name: Pietrini, Pietro
creators_name: Bicchi, Antonio
creators_name: Santello, Marco
creators_name: Ricciardi, Emiliano
creators_id: 
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creators_id: 
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
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creators_id: 
creators_id: pietro.pietrini@imtlucca.it
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
creators_id: emiliano.ricciardi@imtlucca.it
title: A synergy-based hand control is encoded in human motor cortical areas
ispublished: pub
subjects: RC0321
divisions: CSA
full_text_status: public
keywords: Hand control; Synergies; fMRI; Encoding; Decoding; Motor cortex
abstract: How the human brain controls hand movements to carry out different tasks is still debated. The concept of synergy has been proposed to indicate functional modules that may simplify the control of hand postures by simultaneously recruiting sets of muscles and joints. However, whether and to what extent synergic hand postures are encoded as such at a cortical level remains unknown. Here, we combined kinematic, electromyography, and brain activity measures obtained by functional magnetic resonance imaging while subjects performed a variety of movements towards virtual objects. Hand postural information, encoded through kinematic synergies, were represented in cortical areas devoted to hand motor control and successfully discriminated individual grasping movements, significantly outperforming alternative somatotopic or muscle-based models. Importantly, hand postural synergies were predicted by neural activation patterns within primary motor cortex. These findings support a novel cortical organization for hand movement control and open potential applications for brain-computer interfaces and neuroprostheses.
date: 2016-02
date_type: published
publication: eLife
volume: 5
publisher: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
pagerange: e13420
id_number: 10.7554/eLife.13420
refereed: TRUE
issn: 2050-084X
official_url: https://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.13420
citation:   Leo, Andrea and Handjaras, Giacomo and Bianchi, Matteo and Marino, Hamal and Gabiccini, Marco and Guidi, Andrea and Scilingo, Enzo Pasquale and Pietrini, Pietro and Bicchi, Antonio and Santello, Marco and Ricciardi, Emiliano  A synergy-based hand control is encoded in human motor cortical areas.  eLife, 5.  e13420.  ISSN 2050-084X      (2016)  
document_url: http://eprints.imtlucca.it/3170/1/elife-13420-v2-download.pdf