Action coding in the posterior parietal cortex

old_uid10854
titleAction coding in the posterior parietal cortex
start_date2012/02/10
schedule11h30
onlineno
summaryThe posterior parietal cortex is classically considered as an associative region in which the convergence of visual (dorsal stream) and somatosensory inputs allows the emergence of a more abstract level of representations (body schema and space). This would in turn allow the constructions of motor programs to be fed to the motor cortex for execution. However, more recent anatomical and functional data, showed that this region is bidirectionally connected with the motor cortex, and hosts motor neurons. More specifically, anatomical studies provided a multi-architectonic parcellation of inferior parietal lobule (IPL) in macaque, and connectional data identified parallel circuits connecting specific IPL, premotor and prefrontal areas. Functional studies described the distribution along IPL of motor and sensory properties at the single neuron level. In particular, grasping neurons motor discharge is modulated by the final goal of the action sequence in which grasping is embedded. This prompted the idea that IPL could be involved in the intentional coding of actions. Some of these motor neurons are also active during action observation, indicating a possible role of this region also in intention understanding.
responsiblesBéranger