Understanding the organisation of the medial parietal cortex: Sensorimotor integration for goal-directed behaviour

Objective

Like other primates, we use our hands extensively to explore and interact with objects in the environment, guided by sensory information. One of the brain regions known to be involved in the direction of arm movements is the medial parietal cortex, which is the focus of the present study. Stroke affecting this part of the brain causes disability, as people become unable to reach accurately to objects of interest. Revealing the brain circuitry responsible for skilled arm movements can have profound implications for the creation of new technologies such as artificial limbs, and result in health benefits. However, the brain mechanisms underlying these capacities are poorly understood. For example, it is recognized that this region has multiple subdivisions, but how exactly these interact in allowing the sensory information to guide arm muscles is unclear.

This project will be focused on understanding how reaching movements are encoded in the medial parietal cortex, and how information from the different senses influences these movements. Most of the progress to-date in understanding how such abilities are controlled has come from work using the monkey preparation, which forms one of the bases of the present application. The project will combine modern physiological and anatomical methods, with two principle aims: 1) to provide a detailed account of the anatomy of this region, utilizing tracer injections (guided by MRI) and mapping of sensory (visual, somatosensory) responses (outgoing phase), and 2) to provide a functional account of the region, by recording the electrical activity of the brain of monkeys trained to reach to visual and proprioceptive targets (return phase).

Experiments will be conducted in Australia and Italy, in collaboration with scientists who have pioneered on non-human primate research. Through this interaction, the Fellow will aqcuire breadth of expertise and a range of academic contacts, significant for the advancement of her career.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

• natural sciences biological sciences zoology mammalogy primatology
• medical and health sciences basic medicine anatomy and morphology
• medical and health sciences basic medicine neurology stroke

Programme(s)

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• FP7-PEOPLE - Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

• FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IOF - Marie Curie Action: "International Outgoing Fellowships for Career Development"

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IOF
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

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MC-IOF - International Outgoing Fellowships (IOF)

Coordinator