Prehensile kinematics of the marmoset monkey: Implications for the evolution of visually‐guided behaviors

Abstract

Throughout the primate lineage, there is a wide diversity of prehensile capacity that is thought to stem from individual species foraging patterns. While many studies have explored primates with precise hand grips, such as higher apes, few have considered primates that lack opposition movements. The New World marmoset monkey occupies an intriguing niche, displaying adept control of their hand movements yet their absence of opposable digits results in relatively imprecise grasping actions when compared with those observed in Old World monkeys, apes, and humans. The marmoset monkey offers a unique composition of ancestral primate corticospinal organization combined with skilled hand use to explore the evolution and development of visually-guided actions. In this study, four adult marmosets were trained to perform a series of visually-guided tasks, designed to assess their control over locating and retrieving objects of differing dimensions. Two of these animals received a neonatal lesion of the inferior pulvinar (unilateral), a thalamic nucleus previously demonstrated to be involved in visuomotor development.The kinematics of their reaching and grasping patterns were recorded for offline analysis. Predictive modeling revealed that maximum grip aperture, time to reach peak velocity and hand use were reliable predictors of distinguishing between cohorts. A consistent feature observed across all tasks was that they do not precisely scale their grip according to the dimensions of the target object which may be attributed to their lack of independent digit control. Therefore, the marmoset monkey represents a previously understudied position in the evolution of primate reach and grasp behavior.

Fast prediction in marmoset reach-to-grasp movements for dynamic prey

“…Marmosets perform reach-to-grasp movements for moving crickets with generalizable relationships between finger spread, hand speed, and proximity to target (Figure 3 A-E) . Opening of grasp aperture with proximity to target, for example, is expected (Sartori et al ., 2013; Castiello & Dadda, 2019; Fox et al ., 2019). These data are shown here to confirm these expectations and to demonstrate the tracking capability of DeepLabCut.…”

Visual Cortical Area MT is Required for Development of the Dorsal Stream and Associated Visuomotor Behaviours

“…To ensure adequate compliance with the task, we first trained the animals to enter a removable transport box on the home cage, which was then taken into the behaviour laboratory (Fig. 2A) ( 32 ). We employed naturalistic, goal orientated, reach and grasp tasks once neonatal MT lesion animals (PD14) had reached adulthood (>18 months).…”

“…Visual behaviour experiments commenced following a minimum of 12 months recovery from the MT ablative surgery. Detailed stepwise training and habituation protocols to allow for implementing reach and grasp behavioural experiments in the marmoset have been previously described( 32 ).…”

“…As MT neurons are highly tuned for direction and the perception of motion, we wanted to determine if accurate reward-driven visuomotor behaviour was still achievable following early-life loss of MT. To ensure adequate compliance with the task, we first trained the animals to enter a removable transport box on the home cage, which was then taken into the behaviour laboratory (Fig 2a) 32 . We employed naturalistic, goal orientated, reach and grasp tasks once neonatal MT lesion animals (PD14) had reached adulthood (>18 months).…”

Role of Viruses in the Pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis

“…Further, more complicated evidence for a direct role of EBV in MS pathology is provided by the marmoset model of MS, which closely mimics the human immune response to EBV [91]. In this model, the role of Callitrichine herpesvirus 3 (CalHV3) in the pathogenesis of MS-like disease was explained by direct infection of B cells [92].…”