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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Fmri Reveals The Neural Correlates Of Real And Pantomimed Tool Use In Humans, Joseph Umberto Paciocco Aug 2012

Fmri Reveals The Neural Correlates Of Real And Pantomimed Tool Use In Humans, Joseph Umberto Paciocco

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Although functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can be used to study the neural mechanisms underlying greatly expanded cognitive functions in humans like tool use, surprisingly little fMRI research has been done on actual tool use. In fact, due to technical constraints, most fMRI studies have used pantomimed actions as a proxy for real use. However, human neuropsychology patients who are impaired at pantomiming often improve when handling a tool suggesting potential neural differences. We used fMRI to record brain activation while 13 right-handed participants performed one of two tasks, real or pantomime tool use with one of two tools, a …


Distinct Visual Coding Strategies Mediate Grasping And Pantomime-Grasping Of 2d And 3d Objects., Scott A. Holmes Aug 2012

Distinct Visual Coding Strategies Mediate Grasping And Pantomime-Grasping Of 2d And 3d Objects., Scott A. Holmes

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

An issue of current debate in the visuomotor control literature surrounds whether 2D and 3D objects rely on similar or dissociable visual information in supporting goal-directed grasping. Accordingly, in Experiment One I had participants grasp 2D and 3D objects wherein just-noticeable-difference (JND) scores for aperture shaping were computed to determine the extent to which such actions adhere to the psychophysical principles of Weber’s law. Results demonstrated that JNDs scaled in accordance with Weber’s law in a time-independent and time-dependent manner for 2D and 3D grasping, respectively. In Experiment Two, I sought to further explore the cognitive demands of grasping by …