Abstract
The goal of this study was to quantify the inter-individual and intra-individual variability of manual (digits) skill in adult macaque monkeys, over a motor learning phase and, lateron, when motor skills were consolidated. The hypothesis is that several attributes of the stable manual dexterity performance can be predicted from learning characteristics. The behavioral data were collected from 20 adult Macaca fascicularis, derived from their dominant hand, defined as the hand exhibiting a better performance than theother. Two manual dexterity tasks were tested: (i) the modified Brinkman board task, consisting in the retrieval of food pellets placed in 50 slots ina board, using the precision grip (opposition of the thumb and index finger);(ii) the reach and grasp drawer task, in which the grip force and the load force were continuously monitored while the monkey opened a drawer against a resistance, before grasping a pellet inside the drawer. The hypothesis was verified for the performance of manual dexterity after consolidation, correlated with the initial score before learning. Motor habit, reflected by the temporal order of sequential movements executed in the modified Brinkman board task, was established very early during the learning phase. As mostly expected, motor learning led to an optimization of manual dexterity parameters, such as score, contact time, as well as a decrease in intra-individual variability. Overall,the data demonstrate the substantial inter-individual variability of manual dexterity in non-human primates, to be considered for further pre-clinical applications based on this animal model.
Highlights
Motor learning led to an optimization of manual dexterity parameters, such as score, contact time, as well as a decrease in intra-individual variability
Our main hypothesis that acquired manual dexterity performance and variability can be predicted from the duration of the learning phase, from the learning slope and from the initial score before any training was not verified for the most part, based on the modified Brinkman board data
Motor learning led to an optimization of manual dexterity parameters in the modified Brinkman board task, such as score, Contact time (CT), as well as a substantial decrease in intra-individual variability, especially for the CT (Figures 1, 4 and Supplementary Figures 1, 3), in line with current theories
Summary
The goal of this study was to quantify the inter-individual and intra-individual variability of manual skill in adult macaque monkeys, over a motor learning phase and, later on, when motor skills were consolidated. Our goal was to use two complementary manual dexterity tasks, namely the modified Brinkman board task and the reach and grasp drawer task, to quantify the inter-individual variability of manual skill in adult macaque monkeys, as well as the intra-individual variations along a motor learning phase and, later on, during motor skills consolidation
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