What question did this study set out to answer?

To determine whether single neurons in the primary motor cortex (M1) and dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) maintain explicit, organized representations of 3D hand position during naturalistic movements.

August 16, 2026Journal of Neuroscience

Localized Tuning Fields for 3D Hand Position in the Primary Motor Cortex and Premotor Cortex of Macaques

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Authors

S(Shenghao Cao (曹盛浩)Chinese Academy of Sciences 田田开熙Chinese Academy of Sciences SYShan YuHangzhou Dianzi University

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Implication

Electrophysiological study reveals explicit 3D hand position representations in macaque motor cortices, indicating integrated spatial mapping for motor control.

Key Points

To determine whether single neurons in the primary motor cortex (M1) and dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) maintain explicit, organized representations of 3D hand position during naturalistic movements.
Recorded single-unit neuronal activity in M1 and PMd of two male rhesus macaques (N=2).
Monitored neural firing while monkeys performed a naturalistic, self-paced 3D reach-and-grasp task.
Evaluated position tuning, spatial field organization, and 3D trajectory decoding fidelity.
Neurons robustly tuned to instantaneous 3D hand position comprised 36.2% of recorded units in M1 and 21.3% in PMd, exhibiting mixed selectivity with movement kinematics.
M1 position tuning fields were systematically oriented along cardinal axes with multi-scale spatial clustering, whereas PMd fields were organized more randomly.
Small subsets of position-tuned neurons successfully decoded 3D hand trajectories with high fidelity.

Cite This Study

(曹盛浩) et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a817a60f2fb91fc834ae129 https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.1773-25.2026

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Implication

Electrophysiological study reveals explicit 3D hand position representations in macaque motor cortices, indicating integrated spatial mapping for motor control.

Localized Tuning Fields for 3D Hand Position in the Primary Motor Cortex and Premotor Cortex of Macaques

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Localized Tuning Fields for 3D Hand Position in the Primary Motor Cortex and Premotor Cortex of Macaques

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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