# Towards a neurobiology of "oromanual" motor control: behavioral analysis and neural mechanisms

> **NIH NIH R21** · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY · 2023 · $440,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The goal of this proposal is to develop new methods to study the neurobiology of “oromanual” motor control –
goal-directed, coordinated movements of jaw- and hand-related structures, as exemplified by food-handling
behavior, a natural and ethologically essential activity. Movements of the hands and jaw have traditionally been
studied entirely separately – e.g. actions such as reach-to-grasp and mastication, respectively. Yet many
mammals, especially primates and rodents, use coordinated hand-and-jaw movements for natural behaviors,
particularly food handling. Neither the precise kinematics of coordinated hand-jaw movements nor the underlying
neural mechanisms are well understood. Here we propose a research program that will begin to address this
gap in knowledge through a series of exploratory activities. During oromanual food-handling, electromyography
methods will be used to concurrently record masseter and forelimb activity, together with machine learning-
assisted tracking of movements captured by kilohertz video. Both head-fixed and freely moving paradigms will
be developed, to enable implementation of electrophysiological and optical recordings of neural activity across
motor/frontal cortical areas during food-handling. Cortical activity will be analyzed in relation to distinct behavioral
modes and sub-movements, and inform how active units contribute as a population to the overall cortical activity
pattern and hand-jaw interactions. Circuit-mapping paradigms will be developed to dissect the circuits mediating
communication along masseter- and/or forelimb-related corticobulbar pathways impinging on masseter motor
neurons in the motor trigeminal nucleus. The overall outcome will be a novel suite of tools, experimental
paradigms, and conceptual framework to enable future in-depth investigation of oromanual motor control.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10819032
- **Project number:** 1R21NS135642-01
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Gordon M Shepherd
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $440,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2023-09-01 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10819032

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10819032, Towards a neurobiology of "oromanual" motor control: behavioral analysis and neural mechanisms (1R21NS135642-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10819032. Licensed CC0.

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