An alphabet for hand actions in the human brain

Originally published in MedicalXpress by Carnegie Mellon University on August 18, 2025

edited by Sadie Harley, reviewed by Robert Egan

 
                                    Cédito: Violinist.com  

Using a corkscrew, writing a letter with a pen or unlocking a door by turning a key are actions that seem simple but actually require a complex orchestration of precise movements. So, how does the brain do it?

According to a new study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Coimbra, the human brain has a specialized system that builds these actions in a surprisingly systematic way.

Analogous to how all of the words in a language can be created by recombining the letters of its alphabet, the full repertoire of human hand actions can be built out of a small number of basic building block movements.

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