Cologne Aachen Gesture Colloquium

Ingo Helmich (German Sport University Cologne)

Neuronal Correlates of Hand Movements

January 27, 2015, 2.00 p.m.

Raum 212 / IG1, Deutsche Sporthochschule Köln, Am Sportpark Müngersdorf 6, 50933 Köln

A Cooperation between German Sport University Cologne (Hedda Lausberg) and RWTH Aachen University (Irene Mittelberg). More Information.

Abstract: The view that hemispheric language lateralization determines the use of the right or left hand movement has been challenged by studies that investigated hand movement production in a more detailed way of analysis. We therefore investigated in several experiments the neuropsychological functions, the hemispherical underpinnings, and the neuronal correlates of hand movement production tasks. The results showed that the neuropsychological functions of hand movements differ in conditions with and without speaking. Hand movements with a phase structure and gestures that represent action seem to be subserved by a left hemispheric system of conceptualization. The investigation of the hemodynamic response during hand movement production tasks provided evidence that premotor and somatosensory cortices of the left hemisphere constitute relevant brain structures for hand movement production. We conclude that the production of hand movements underlies hemispherically specialized functions of movement conceptualization processes that are lateralized to the left hemisphere.