Hansjörg Scherberger, Ph.D.

• Neurobiology Laboratory
• German Primate Center (DPZ), Göttingen, Germany

Coding and decoding of hand grasping in the primate brain

Hand function plays an important role in all primate species, and its loss is associated with severe disability. Grasping movements are complex actions for which the primate brain integrates sensory and cognitive signals to generate meaningful behavior. To achieve this computation, specialized brain areas are functionally connected, in particular in the parietal (anterior intra parietal area, AIP), premotor (area F5), and primary motor cortex (M1 hand area). This presentation will highlight recent experimental results in non-human primates to characterize how populations of individual neurons in these cortical areas interact to generate grasping movements based on sensory signals, and how such neuronal population signals can be used to decode hand actions, e.g., for operating a neural prosthesis.

Faculty Host: Dr. Veit Stuphorn