Gaze direction modulates finger movement activation patterns in human cerebral cortex

We investigated whether gaze direction modified the pattern of finger movem ent activation in human cerebral cortex using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Participants performed a sequential finger-tapping task or made no finger movements while maintaining gaze in the direction of the mov ing hand (aligned conditions) or away from the location of the moving hand. Functional MR signals, measured in the hemisphere contralateral to the mov ing hand, revealed finger movement-related activation in primary motor cort ex, lateral and medial premotor cortex, and a wide extent of the lateral su perior and inferior parietal lobules. In each area, the extent of the finge r movement activation increased when static gaze was more aligned with the moving hand compared to when gaze was directed away from the moving hand. T hese data suggest the existence of large-scale cortical networks related to finger actions and indicate that skeletomotor processing in the cerebral c ortex is consistently modified by gaze direction signals.