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Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society (2018), 00, 1-13 Copyright © INS. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018. doi: 10.1017/S1355617718000590

Decoding Brain States for Planning Functional Grasps of Tools: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Multivoxel Pattem Analysis Study

INTRODUCTION

Our daily activities comprise of numerous actions involving tools. For these actions to be appropriate for object functions, quite refined neural processing must be invoked, along with retrieval of abstract knowledge on tools and their proper handling (Frey, 2007; Vingerhoets, 2014; see also Orban, 2016; Reynaud, Lesourd, Navarro, & Osiurak, 2016). Indeed, the activation of relevant tool and action concepts, as well as all the necessary perceptual processing and visuo-motor transformations preceding real activities with tools must be performed, or at least orchestrated, within a specia-lized network of brain regions, often referred to as the praxis representation network (PRN; see Frey, 2008; Króliczak &

Correspondence and reprint requests to: Mikołaj Buchwald, Instytut Psychologii UAM, ul. Szamarzewskiego 89, 60-568 Poznań, Poland. E-mail: [e-mail]

Frey, 2009). The temporo-parieto-frontal subdivisions of this network are commonly associated, respectively, with processing of object functionality, its incorporation into action plans, and conversion of the assembled information into deliberate motor acts (Andersen & Buneo, 2002; Beurze, de Lange, Toni, & Medendorp, 2007; Vingerhoets & Clauwaert, 2015). Yet, an often-neglected prerequisite of successful actions with tools is a proper grasp. The latter requires that the functional part of an object be distinguished from the remaining subdivisions of its structure, particularly its handle, whose spatial relation to the acting hand must be also appropriately computed. Put differently, even such simple tasks as grasping tools may already require quite sophisti-cated neural machinery (Przybylski & Króliczak, 2017; see also McDowell, Holmes, Sunderland, & Schurmann, 2018).

The majority of earlier studies concerning the role of net-works underlying skilled actions with functional objects have

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