The grasp reflex and related prehensile phenomena were investigated in two studies. In Study 1, 491 patients consecutively admitted to the neurological wards of our department were tested with a standardized procedure. Grasping was found in 8% of brain-damaged patients and occurred predominantly in patients with single (14 cases) or multiple (10 cases) hemispheric lesions, accompanied by stable neurological symptoms. The locus of the lesion was either in the frontal lobe or in the deep nuclei and subcortical white matter. Grasping never occurred when the disease was confined to the retrorolandic regions.