The Neural Organization of Tool Use Actions in Humans

描述（由申请人提供）：作为现代人类，我们的大量日常活动（例如，做饭、吃饭、写字、刷牙等）涉及手工工具和器具的熟练使用。因此，损害这些行为的脑损伤或疾病的后果往往是毁灭性的。然而，对这些能力的神经机制知之甚少。该项目的总体目标是促进我们对这些神经机制及其在日常生活活动（ADL）中所起作用的理解。快速、事件相关的功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）被用于实现三个特定的目标，这些目标来自人类和非人类灵长类动物使用工具的神经合理模型：1）确定手动抓握与机械“手”抓握所涉及的神经表征之间的关系，并说明这些神经表征如何随着经验而变化。2)根据物体的三维结构特性与其功能和用途的知识，确定抓握物体所涉及的神经基质。3)确定日常单手和双手工具使用技能的大脑组织，以及它们与不涉及工具的成熟技能的关系。这些研究解决了人类日常行为的一个基本方面，工具使用，这在主流心理学和神经科学文献中几乎被忽视了。我们的技术有效地区分了行动组织（计划）与执行所涉及的过程。重点放在确定可靠的神经表征的个体差异，以及在组数据的共同特点。左手和右手的参与者都包括在内。左撇子在行为和功能成像研究中经常被忽视，但他们获得和代表手工技能的方式可能与右撇子在理论和临床上都有重要意义。这项工作的结果将与理解和改善涉及工具和其他可操作物体的损伤/疾病（ADL）的康复有关，包括：脑血管意外（CVA），脊髓损伤，多发性硬化症（MS）和帕金森病（PD）。研究结果也与认知神经假体和其他辅助技术的发展有关。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): As modern humans, a vast number of our daily activities (e.g., cooking and eating, writing, brushing teeth, etc.) involve the skillful use of manual tools and utensils. Thus, the consequences of brain injuries or diseases that compromise these behaviors are often devastating. Yet, strikingly little is known about the neural mechanisms responsible for these abilities. The overarching goal of this project is to advance our understanding of these neural mechanisms and the roles they play in activities of daily living (ADLs). Rapid, event-related, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is used to achieve three specific aims that arise from a neurally-plausible model of tool use in human and non-human primates: 1) determine the relationship between neural representations involved in manual prehension versus grasping with a mechanical "hand," and specify how these change with experience. 2) Determine the neural substrates involved in grasping objects on the basis of their 3-D structural properties versus knowledge of their functions and uses. 3) Determine the cerebral organization of everyday uni- and bi-manual tool use skills and their relationship to well-established skills that do not involve tools. These studies address a fundamental aspect of everyday human behavior, tool use, that has been all but overlooked in the mainstream psychological and neuroscience literatures. Our techniques distinguish effectively between processes involved in action organization (planning) versus execution. Emphasis is placed on identifying reliable individual differences in neural representations as well as common features in group data. Left-handed as well as right-handed participants are included. Left-handers are often neglected in behavioral and functional imaging research, yet the way that they acquire and represent manual skills may differ from right-handers in ways that are of both theoretical and clinical importance. Results of this work will have relevance to understanding and improving the rehabilitation of injuries/diseases that compromise (ADLs) involving tools and other manipulable objects, including: Cerebral Vascular Accidents (CVAs), spinal cord injuries, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), and Parkinson's Disease (PD). Results are also relevant to the development of cognitive neuroprostheses and other assistive technologies.