Abstract
Needless to say, the hand is the principal instrument for writing and writing is one of the most fundamental things we do with the hand. It is therefore worthwhile to consider in some detail the hand in a book dealing with several aspects of writing. In this chapter I do not claim to present a complete and detailed review of the functions of the hand, but I will try to describe some fundamental sensory and motor mechanisms in an attempt to construct an overview of hand functioning. The hand is both a sensory and a motor organ, so that the sensory functions cannot be completely separated from the motor ones. When we explore the world with our hands, the tactile information arriving at our brain plays an essential role in the ongoing motor behavior. This continuous sensory inflow and motor outflow represents what has been called “active touch” (Gibson, 1962) or “haptics” (Revesz, 1950; Kennedy, 1978). Thus these terms mean the combined action of skin, joints and muscles for acquiring information from the external world. On the other hand, the movement of an object across a stationary hand represents the condition we call “passive touch.” In such a situation the hand behaves merely as a sensory organ. In contrast, when the hand performs movements such as preshaping in grasping behavior, it behaves as a motor organ. The hand can therefore be used as a sensory detector, a motor device, or both.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Asanuma, H. (1973). Cerebral cortical control of movement. Physiologist. 16, 143–166.
Asanuma, H., and Sakata, H. (1967). Functional organization of a cortical efferent system examined with focal depth stimulation in cats. Journal of Neurophysiology 30, 35–54.
Benedetti, F. (1985). Processing of tactile spatial information with crossed fingers. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. 11, 517–525.
Benedetti, F. (1986a). Tactile diplopia (diplesthesia) on the human fingers. Perception, 15, 83–91.
Benedetti, F. (1986b). Spatial organization of the diplesthetic and nondiplesthetic areas of the fingers. Perception, 15, 285–301.
Benedetti, F. (1988a). Exploration of a rod with crossed fingers. Perception and Psychophysics, 44, 281–284.
Benedetti, F. (1988b). Localization of tactile stimuli and body parts in space: two dissociated perceptual experiences revealed by a lack of constancy in the presence of position sense and motor activity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. 14, 69–76.
Benedetti, F. (1990). Goal directed motor behavior and its adaptation following reversed tactile perception in man. Experimental Brain Research 81, 70–76.
Benedetti, F. (1991a). Perceptual learning following a longlasting tactile reversal. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, in press.
Benedetti, F. (1991b). Reorganization of tactile perception following the simulated amputation of one finger. Perception, in press.
Calford, M.B., and Tweedale, R. (1988). Immediate and chronic changes in responses of somatosensory cortex in adult flying-fox after digit amputation. Nature, 332, 446–448.
Clark, S.A., Allard, T., Jenkins, W.M., and Merzenich, M.M. (1988). Receptive fields in the body-surface map in adult cortex defined by temporally correlated inputs. Nature, 332, 444–445.
Coquery, J-M. (1978). Role of active movement in control of afferent input from skin in cat and man. In Gordon G. (Ed.), Active touch (pp. 161–169). Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Costanzo, R.M., and Gardner, E.P. (1980). A quantitative analysis of responses of direction-sensitive neurons in somatosensory cortex of awake monkeys. Journal of Neurophysiology, 43, 1319–1341.
Darian-Smith, I. (1982). Touch in primates. Annual Review of Psychology 33, 155–194.
Deecke, L., and Kornhuber, H.H. (1978). An electrical sign of participation of the mesial “supplementary” motor cortex in human voluntary finger movement. Brain Research 159, 473476.
Dreyer, D.A., Loe, P.A., Metz, C.B., and Whitsel, B.L. (1975). Representation of head and face in postcentral gyrus of the macaque. Journal of Neurophysiology. 38, 714–733.
Dyhre-Poulsen, P. (1978). Perception of tactile stimuli before ballistic and during tracking movements. In Gordon G. (Ed.), Active touch (pp. 171–176). Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Evarts, E.V. (1966). Pyramidal tract activity associated with a conditioned hand movement in the monkey. Journal of Neurophysiology, 29, 1011–1027.
Evarts, E.V. (1968). Relation of pyramidal tract activity to force exerted during voluntary movement. Journal of Neurophysiology, 31, 14–27.
Freund, H.-J., and Hummelsheim, H. (1984). Premotor cortex in man: evidence for innervation of proximal limb muscles. Experimental Brain Research, 53, 479–482.
Friedman, D.P., Jones, E.G., and Burton, H (1980). Representation pattern in the second somatic sensory area of the monkey cerebral cortex. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 192, 21–41.
Gandevia, S.C, and McCloskey, D.I. (1977). Effects of related sensory inputs on motor performances in man studied through changes in perceived heaviness. Journal of Physiology (London), 272, 653–672.
Garcha, H.S., and Ettlinger, G. (1978). The effects of unilateral or bilateral removals of the second somatosensory cortex (Area SII): a profound tactile disorder in monkeys. Cortex, 14, 319–326.
Gardner, E.P., and Costanzo, R.M. (1980). Neuronal mechanisms underlying direction sensitivity of somatosensory cortical neurons in awake monkeys. Journal of Neurophysiology, 43, 1342–1354.
Gibson, J.J. (1962). Observations on active touch. Psychological Review, 69, 477–491.
Goodwin, G.M., McCloskey, D.I., and Matthews, P.B.C. (1972). The contribution of muscle afférents to kinaesthesia shown by vibration induced illusions of movement and by the effects of paralysing joint afférents. Brain, 95, 705–748.
Hyvärinen, J. (1982). The parietal cortex of monkey and man. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
Hyvärinen, J., and Poranen, A. (1974). Function of the parietal associative area 7 as revealed from cellular discharges in alert monkeys. Brain, 97, 673–692.
Hyvärinen, J., and Poranen, A. (1978a). Movement-sensitive and direction and orientation-selective cutaneous receptive fields in the hand area of the post-central gyrus in monkeys. Journal of Physiology (London) 283, 523–537.
Hyvärinen, J., and Poranen, A. (1978b). Receptive field integration and submodality convergence in the hand area of the post-central gyrus of the alert monkey. Journal of Physiology (London), 283, 539–556.
Iwamura, Y., and Tanaka, M. (1978). Postcentral neurons in hand region of area 2: their possible role in the form discrimination of tactile objects. Brain Research, 150, 662–666.
Iwamura, Y., Tanaka, M., Sakamoto, M., and Hikosaka, O. (1983). Converging patterns of finger representation and complex response properties of neurons in area 1 of the first somatosensory cortex of the conscious monkey. Experimental Brain Research 51, 327–337.
Iwamura, Y., Tanaka, M., Sakamoto, M., and Hikosaka, O. (1985). Functional surface integration, submodality convergence, and tactile feature detection in area 2 of the monkey somatosensory cortex. In Goodwin A.W. and Darian-Smith I. (Eds.), Hand function and the neocortex (pp. 44–58). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
Jankowska, E., Padel, Y., and Tanaka, R. (1976). Disynaptic inhibition of spinal motoneurones from the motor cortex in the monkey. Journal of Physiology (London), 258, 467–487.
Jeannerod, M., Michel, F., and Prablanc, C. (1984). The control of hand movements in a case of hemianaesthesia following a parietal lesion. Brain, 107, 899–920.
Jenkins, W.M., Merzenich, M.M., and Ochs, M.T. (1984). Behaviorally controlled differential use of restricted hand surfaces induces changes in the cortical representation of the hand in area 3b of adult owl monkeys. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts, 10, 665.
Johansson, R.S., and Vallbo, A.B. (1983). Tactile sensory coding in the glabrous skin of the human hand. Trends in Neurosciences, 6, 27–32.
Johansson, R.S., and Vallbo, A.B. (1979). Tactile sensibility in the human hand: relative and absolute densities of four types of mechanoreceptive units in glabrous skin. Journal of Physiology (London), 286, 283–300.
Jones, E.G., and Burton, H. (1976). Areal differences in the laminar distribution of thalamic afférents in cortical fields of the insular, parietal and temporal regions of primates. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 168, 197–248.
Jones, E.G., Coulter, J.D., and Hendry, S.H.C. (1978). Intracortical connectivity of architectonic fields in the somatic sensory, motor and parietal cortex of monkeys. Journal of Comparative Neurology 181, 291–348.
Jones, E.G., Coulter, J.D., and Wise, S.P. (1979). Commissural columns in the sensory-motor cortex of monkeys. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 188, 113–136.
Jones, E.G., and Friedman, D.P. (1982). Projection pattern of functional components of thalamic ventrobasal complex on monkey somatosensory cortex. Journal of Neurophysiology, 48, 521–544.
Jones, E.G., and Powell, T.P.S. (1969a). Connexions of the somatic sensory cortex of the rhesus monkey. L Ipsilateral cortical connexions. Brain, 92, 477–502.
Jones, E.G., and Powell, T.P.S. (1969b). Connexions of the somatic sensory cortex of the rhesus monkey. II. Contralateral connexions. Brain, 92, 717–730.
Jones, E.G., and Powell, T.P.S. (1970). Connexions of the somatic sensory cortex of the rhesus monkey. III Thalamic connexions. Brain, 93, 37–56.
Kaas, J.H., Nelson, R.J., Sur, M., Lin, C-S., and Merzenich, M.M. (1979). Multiple representations of the body within the primary somatosensory cortex of primates. Science, 204, 521–523.
Kelahan, A.M., and Doetsch, G.S. (1984). Time-dependent changes in the functional organization of somatosensory cerebral cortex following digit amputation in adult raccoons. Somatosensory Research, 2, 49–81.
Kennedy, J.M. (1978). Haptics. In Carterette E.C. and Friedman M.P. (Eds.), Handbook of Perception, Vol. VIII (pp. 289-318). New York: Academic Press.
Lang, W., Lang, M., Kornhuber, A., Deecke, L., and Komhuber, H.H. (1984). Human cerebral potentials and visuomotor learning. Pflugers Archiv. European Journal of Physiology, 399, 342–344.
LeGros-Qark, W.E. (1959). The antecedents of man. New York: Harper and Row.
Leinonen, L., Hyvärinen, J., and Sovijarvi, A.R.A. (1980). Functional properties of neurons in the temporoparietal association cortex of awake monkey. Experimental Brain Research, 39, 203–215.
Leinonen, L., and Nyman, G. (1979). Functional properties of cells in anterolateral part of area 7, associative face area of awake monkey. Experimental Brain Research, 34, 321–333.
Lucier, G.E., Ruegg, D.C., and Wiesendanger, M. (1975). Responses of neurones in motor cortex and in Area 3a to controlled stretches of forelimb muscles in cebus monkeys. Journal of Physiology (London). 251, 833–853.
Lundberg, A. (1979). Integration in a propriospinal motor centre controlling the forelimb in the cat. In Asanuma H. and Wilson V.J. (Eds.), Integration in the nervous system (pp. 47–64). Tokyo: Igaku-Shoin.
Marsden, CD., Rothwell, J.C., and Day, B.L. (1984). The use of peripheral feedback in the control of movement. Trends in Neurosciences, 7, 253–257.
Matthews, P.B.C. (1982). Where does Sherrington’s “muscular sense” originate? Muscles, joints, corollary discharges? Annual Review of Neuroscience, 5, 189–218.
McCloskey, D.I. (1980). Kinaesthelic sensations and motor commands in man. In Desmedt J.E. (Ed.), Progress in clinical neurophysiology Vol. 8. Spinal and supraspinal mechanisms of voluntary motor control and locomotion (pp. 203–214). Basel: Karger.
Merzenich, M.M., and Kaas, J.H. (1982). Reorganization of mammalian somatosensory cortex following peripheral nerve injury. Trends in Neurosciences, 5, 434–436.
Merzenich, M.M., Kaas, J.H., Sur, M., and Tin, C-S. (1978). Double representation of the body surface within cytoarchitectonic area 3b and 1 in “SI” in the owl monkey (Aotus trivirgatus). Journal of Comparative Neurology 181, 41–74.
Merzenich, M.M., Kaas, J.H., Wall, J.T., Nelson, R.J., Sur, M., and Felleman, DJ. (1983a). Topographic reorganization of somatosensory cortical Areas 3b and 1 in adult monkeys following restricted deafferentation. Neuroscience. 8, 33–55.
Merzenich, M.M., Kaas, J.H., Wall, J.T., Sur, M., Nelson, R.J., and Felleman, DJ. (1983b). Progression of change following median nerve section in the cortical representation of the hand in Areas 3b and 1 in adult owl and squirrel monkeys. Neuroscience, 10, 639–665.
Mountcastle, V.B. (1984). Central nervous mechanisms in mechanoreceptive sensibility. In Brookhart J.M. and Mountcastle V.B. (Eds.), Handbook of physiology, Section 1 (The. nervous system), Vol. III (Sensory processes, Part 2, pp. 789–878). Bethesda: American Physiological Society.
Mountcastle, V.B., Lynch, J.C, Georgopoulos, A., Sakata, H., and Acuna, C. (1975). Posterior parietal association cortex of the monkey: command functions for operations within extrapersonal space. Journal of Neurophysiology, 38, 871–908.
Nelson, RJ. (1985). Sensorimotor cortex responses to vibrotactile stimuli during initiation and execution of hand movement In Goodwin A.W. and Darian-Smith L (Eds.), Hand function and the neocortex (pp. 59-76). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
Nelson, R.J., Sur, M., Felleman, D.J., and Kaas, J.H. (1980). Representations of the body surface in the postcentral parietal cortex of Macaca fascicularis. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 192, 611–643.
Penfield, W., and Rasmussen, T. (1950). The cerebral cortex in man. New York: Macmillan.
Phillips, C.G., and Porter, R. (1977). Corticospinal neurons: their role in movement. London: Academic Press.
Phillips, CG., Powell, T.P.S., and Wiesendanger, M. (1971). Projection from low-threshold muscle afferent of the hand and forearm to area 3a of the baboon’s cortex. Journal of Physiology (London) 217, 419–446.
Pons, T.P., Garraghty, P.E., Friedman, D.P., and Mishkin, M. (1987). Physiological evidence for serial processing in somatosensory cortex. Science 237, 417–420.
Powell, T.P.S., and Mountcastle, V.B. (1959). Some aspects of the functional organization of the cortex of the postcentral gyrus of the monkey: a correlation of findings obtained in a single unit analysis with cytoarchitecture. Bulletin of Johns Hopkins Hospital, 105, 133–162.
Preston, J.B., and Whitlock, D.G. (1961). Precentral facilitation and inhibition of spinal motoneurons. Journal of Neurophysiology 24, 91–100.
Randolph, M.C., and Semmes, J. (1974). Behavioral consequences of selective subtotal ablations in the postcentral gyrus of Macaca mulatta. Brain Research, 70, 55–70.
Revesz, G. (1950). Psychology and art of the blind. Toronto: Longmans.
Ridley, R.M., and Ettlinger, G. (1978). Further evidence of impaired tactile learning after removals of the second somatic sensory projection cortex (SIII) in the monkey. Experimental Brain Research 31, 475–488.
Robinson, C.J., and Burton, H. (1980). Somatotopographic organization in the second somatosensory area of M. fascicularis. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 192, 43–67.
Roland, P.E., Larsen, B., Lassen, N.A., and Skinhoj, E. (1980). Supplementary motor area and other cortical areas in organization of voluntary movements in man. Journal of Neurophysiology, 43, 118–136.
Rothwell, J.C., Traub, M.M., Day, B.L., Obeso, J. A., Thomas, P.K., and Marsden, CD. (1982). Manual motor performance in a deafferented man. Brain, 105, 515–542.
Sakata, H., and Iwamura, Y. (1978). Cortical processing of tactile information in the first somatosensory and parietal association areas in the monkey. In Gordon G. (Ed.), Active touch (pp. 55–72). Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Sakata, H., Takaoka, A., Kawarasaki, A., and Shibutani, H. (1973). Somatosensory properties of neurons in superior parietal cortex (area 5) of the rhesus monkey. Brain Research, 64, 85–102.
Schreiber, H., Lang, M., Lang, W., Kornhuber, A., Heise, B., Keidel, M., Deecke, L., and Kornhuber, H.H. (1983). Frontal hemispheric differences in the Bereitschaftspotential associated with writing and drawing. Human Neurobiology, 2, 197–202.
Semmes, J., Porter, L., and Randolph, M.C. (1974). Further studies of anterior postcentral lesions in monkeys. Cortex, 10, 55–68.
Smith, A.M., Hepp-Reymond, M.-C, and Wyss, U.R. (1975). Relation of activity in precentral cortical neurons to force and rate of force change during isometric contractions of finger muscles. Experimental Brain Research 23, 315–332.
Vogt, B.A., and Pandya, D.N. (1977). Cortico-cortical connections of somatic sensory cortex (areas 3, 1 and 2) in the rhesus monkey. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 177, 179–192.
Wall, J.T. (1988). Variable organization in cortical maps of the skin as an indication of the lifelong adaptive capacities of circuits in the mammalian brain. Trends in Neurosciences, 11, 549–557.
Wall, J.T., and Cusick, C.G. (1984). Cutaneous responsiveness in primary somatosensory (S-I) hin dpa w cortex before and after partial hindpaw deafferentation in adult rats. Journal of Neuroscience, 4, 1499–1515.
Werner, G., and Whitsel, B.L. (1968). Topology of the body representation in somatosensory area 1 of primates. Journal of Neurophysiology, 31, 856–869.
Whitsel, B.L., Dreyer, D.A., and Roppolo, J.R. (1971). Determinants of body representation in postcentral gyrus of macaques. Journal of Neurophysiology 34, 1018–1034.
Whitsel, B.L., Petrucelli, L.M., and Werner, G. (1969). Symmetry and connectivity in the map of the body surface in somatosensory area II of primates. Journal of Neurophysiology, 32, 170–183.
Wise, S.P., and Evarts, E.V. (1981). The role of cerebral cortex in movement. Trends in Neurosciences, 4, 297–300.
Wise, S.P., and Strick, P.L. (1984). Anatomical and physiological organization of the non-primary motor cortex. Trends in Neurosciences, 7, 442–446.
Woolsey, C.N. (1943). “Second” somatic receiving areas in the cerebral cortex of cat, dog and monkey. Federation Proceedings, 2, 55.
Woolsey, C.N., Marshall, W.H., and Bard, P. (1942). Representation of cutaneous tactile sensibility in the cerebral cortex of the monkey as indicated by evoked potentials. Bulletin of Johns Hopkins Hospital, 70, 399–441.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Benedetti, F. (1994). Sensory and Motor Functions of the Hand. In: Watt, W.C. (eds) Writing Systems and Cognition. Neuropsychology and Cognition, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8285-8_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8285-8_17
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4344-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-015-8285-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive