Premotor and Parietal Cortex: Corticocortical Connectivity and Combinatorial Computations

The dorsal premotor cortex is a functionally distinct cortical field or group of fields in the primate frontal cortex. Anatomical studies have confirmed that most parietal input to the dorsal premotor cortex originates from the superior parietal lobule. However, these projections arise not only from the dorsal aspect of area 5, as has long been known, but also from newly defined areas of posterior parietal cortex, which are directly connected with the extrastriate visual cortex. Thus, the dorsal premotor cortex receives much more direct visual input than previously accepted. It appears that this fronto-parietal network functions as a visuomotor controller--one that makes computations based on proprioceptive, visual, gaze, attentional, and other information to produce an output that reflects the selection, preparation, and execution of movements.