Forced Grasping and Groping in Relation to the Syndrome of the Premotor Area

The Primate Premotor Cortex: Past, Present, and Preparatory

“…Hines (1929) appears to have been the first to use the term "premotor cortex," which was adopted later by Fulton and his collaborators (Fulton et al 1932, Bucy & Fulton 1933, Fulton 1934, Jacobsen 1934, Kennard et al 1934. However, their "premotor area" contained the supplementary motor cortex as it was later defined by physiological methods (Woolsey et al 1952, Penfield & Welch 1951.…”

“…Humphrey 1979, Wiesendanger 1981, but such observations have failed to elucidate the problem of motor cortex function and specialization. In brief, Fulton and his colleagues asserted that ablations of the nonprimary motor cortex in monkeys, apes, and man led to spasticity, forced grasping, and vasomotor disturbances (Fulton et al 1932, Kennard et al 1934, Jacobson 1934, Kennard 1935, Fulton 1934, but the most interesting effect they claimed to observe was a specific deficit in the execution of skilled movements.…”

Premotor cortex neurons in macaques: activity before distal and proximal forelimb movements

“…The results from electrical stimulation studies, in which no distal limb movements could be evoked from this area (Woolsey et al, 1952), have been taken to support this view. On the other hand, the PM has been viewed as an area controlling skilled movements of the whole body (Fulton, 1934; see also Wiesendanger,198 1) or as having a specific role in sensory guidance of movements (Godschalk et al, 198 1;Halsband and Passingham, 1982;Rizzolatti et al, 198 1 b; see also Moll and Kuypers, 1977). This view is supported by anatomical studies demonstrating corticocortical afferents to PM from visual, auditory, and somatosensory association cortex (Chavis and Pandya, 1976;Pandya and Kuypers, 1969;Petrides and Pandya, 1984), as well as topographically organized efferent connections to the motor cortex (Muakkassa and Strick, 1979; see also Godschalk et al, 1984;Matsumura and Kubota, 1979).…”

Neuropsychology, Neuropsychiatry, and Behavioral Neurology

“…Moreover, cells in the premotor cortex become activated before movements are even initiated. Moreover, electrical stimulation elicits complex patterned movement sequences as well as stereotyped and gross motor responses such as head turning or torsion of the body (Fulton, 1934;Passingham, 1981). Indeed, the premotor area appears to be highly involved in the programming of various gross and fine motor activities and becomes highly active during the learning of new motor programs (Roland, Skinhoj, Lassen, & Larsen, 1980).…”