Decoding the neural mechanisms of human tool use.

Authors

Jason P Gallivan, Department of Psychology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada & Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada
D Adam McLean, Brain and Mind Institute, Natural Sciences Centre, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
Kenneth F Valyear, Department of Psychological Sciences, Brain Imaging Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, United States
Jody C Culham, Brain and Mind Institute, Natural Sciences Centre, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada & Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada & Neuroscience Program, University of Western Ontario, London, CanadaFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-28-2013

Journal

Elife

Volume

2

First Page

00425

Last Page

00425

URL with Digital Object Identifier

10.7554/eLife.00425

Abstract

Sophisticated tool use is a defining characteristic of the primate species but how is it supported by the brain, particularly the human brain? Here we show, using functional MRI and pattern classification methods, that tool use is subserved by multiple distributed action-centred neural representations that are both shared with and distinct from those of the hand. In areas of frontoparietal cortex we found a common representation for planned hand- and tool-related actions. In contrast, in parietal and occipitotemporal regions implicated in hand actions and body perception we found that coding remained selectively linked to upcoming actions of the hand whereas in parietal and occipitotemporal regions implicated in tool-related processing the coding remained selectively linked to upcoming actions of the tool. The highly specialized and hierarchical nature of this coding suggests that hand- and tool-related actions are represented separately at earlier levels of sensorimotor processing before becoming integrated in frontoparietal cortex. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00425.001.