Neural mechanisms underlying human grasp and manipulation [ 2002 - 2004 ]

Research Grant

Researchers: Prof Antony Goodwin (Principal investigator) ,  Heather Wheat

Brief description We rely on hand function in a multitude of simple tasks that we tend to take for granted but that are essential in our everyday lives; some examples are turning on a tap, doing up shoelaces, or holding a cup. Many people in the community are disabled by impaired hand function resulting from lesions of the central nervous system or peripheral nerve lesions. The size of the problem is enormous; manual dexterity is affected in approximately 20,000 new stroke patients each year in Australia as well as in other neurological diseases such as neuropathies, nerve injuries, cerebral palsy and many others. The broad aim of this study is to investigate the poorly understood neural mechanisms that underlie sensorimotor control of hand function. We will target a specific aspect of manual dexterity that is crucial for the execution of common everyday tasks, like pouring liquid from a bottle, in which the digits are subjected to torsional loads. In order to maintain stable grasps, the motor control system must rapidly and automatically adjust the grip forces employed to meet the demands imposed by the changing torsion. This is only possible because of sensory feedback from the hand, a large component of which arises from the cutaneous mechanoreceptive afferent fibres. In the first two years we will use a combined approach of neural recording from peripheral nerves in anaesthetised monkeys and psychophysics experiments in normal humans to answer the general question: how does the population of cutaneous afferents provide precise feedback about torsion on the digits? In the third year we will perform key experiments in humans, using microneurography to record from their peripheral nerves. This will establish any differences between human and monkey mechanoreceptors.

Funding Amount $AUD 396,100.00

Funding Scheme NHMRC Project Grants

Notes Standard Project Grant