Cortical activation associated with motor preparation can be used to predict the freely chosen effector of an upcoming movement and reflects response time: An fMRI decoding study

AbstractMotor action is prepared in the human brain for rapid initiation at the appropriate time. Recent non-invasive decoding techniques have shown that brain activity for action preparation represents various parameters of an upcoming action. In the present study, we demonstrated that a freely chosen effector can be predicted from brain activity measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before initiation of the action. Furthermore, the activity was related to response time (RT). We measured brain activity with fMRI while 12 participants performed a finger-tapping task using either the left or right hand, which was freely chosen by them. Using fMRI decoding, we identified brain regions in which activity during the preparatory period could predict the hand used for the upcoming action. We subsequently evaluated the relationship between brain activity and the RT of the upcoming action to determine whether correct decoding was associated with short RT. We observed that activity in the supplementary motor area, dorsal premotor cortex, and primary motor cortex measured before action execution predicted the hand used to perform the action with significantly above-chance accuracy (approximately 70%). Furthermore, in most participants, the RT was shorter in trials for which the used hand was correctly predicted. The present study showed that preparatory activity in cortical motor areas represents information about the effector used for an upcoming action, and that well-formed motor representations in these regions are associated with reduced response times.HighlightsBrain activity measured by fMRI was used to predict freely chosen effectors.M1/PMd and SMA activity predicted the effector hand prior to action initiation.Response time was shorter in trials in which effector hand was correctly predicted.Freely chosen action is represented in the M1/PMd and SMA.Well-formed preparatory motor representations lead to reduced response time.

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Asymmetric effective connectivity within frontoparietal motor network underlying motor imagery and motor execution

10.1101/2020.10.22.351106 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Takeshi Ogawa ◽

Hideki Shimobayashi ◽

Jun-ichiro Hirayama ◽

Motoaki Kawanabe

Keyword(s):

Motor Imagery ◽

Primary Motor Cortex ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Effective Connectivity ◽

Premotor Cortex ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Neural Representation ◽

Motor Execution ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Motor Network

AbstractBoth imagery and execution of motor controls consist of interactions within a neuronal network, including frontal motor-related regions and posterior parietal regions. To reveal neural representation in the frontoparietal motor network, several approaches have been proposed: one is decoding of actions/modes related to motor control from the spatial pattern of brain activity; another is to estimate effective connectivity, which means a directed association between two brain regions within motor regions. However, a motor network consisting of multiple brain regions has not been investigated to illustrate network representation depending on motor imagery (MI) or motor execution (ME). Here, we attempted to differentiate the frontoparietal motor-related networks based on the effective connectivity in the MI and ME conditions. We developed a delayed sequential movement and imagery (dSMI) task to evoke brain activity associated with data under ME and MI in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. We applied a linear non-Gaussian acyclic causal model to identify effective connectivity among the frontoparietal motor-related brain regions for each condition. We demonstrated higher effective connectivity from the contralateral dorsal premotor cortex (dPMC) to the primary motor cortex (M1) in ME than in MI. We mainly identified significant direct effects of dPMC and ventral premotor cortex (vPMC) to the parietal regions. In particular, connectivity from the dPMC to the superior parietal lobule (SPL) in the same hemisphere showed significant positive effects across all conditions. Instead, interlateral connectivities from vPMC to SPL showed significantly negative effects across all conditions. Finally, we found positive effects from A1 to M1 in the same hemisphere, such as the audio motor pathway. These results indicated that sources of motor command originated from d/vPMC and influenced M1 as achievements of ME and MI, and the parietal regions as integration of somatosensory and visual representation during finger tapping. In addition, sequential sounds may functionally facilitate temporal motor processes.

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Mapping Human Laryngeal Motor Cortex during Vocalization

Cerebral Cortex ◽

10.1093/cercor/bhaa182 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (12) ◽

pp. 6254-6269 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Nicole Eichert ◽

Daniel Papp ◽

Rogier B Mars ◽

Kate E Watkins

Keyword(s):

Motor Cortex ◽

Primary Motor Cortex ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Premotor Cortex ◽

Neural Representation ◽

Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽

Human Larynx ◽

Motor Representations ◽

Quantitative Neuroimaging ◽

Hand Area

Abstract The representations of the articulators involved in human speech production are organized somatotopically in primary motor cortex. The neural representation of the larynx, however, remains debated. Both a dorsal and a ventral larynx representation have been previously described. It is unknown, however, whether both representations are located in primary motor cortex. Here, we mapped the motor representations of the human larynx using functional magnetic resonance imaging and characterized the cortical microstructure underlying the activated regions. We isolated brain activity related to laryngeal activity during vocalization while controlling for breathing. We also mapped the articulators (the lips and tongue) and the hand area. We found two separate activations during vocalization—a dorsal and a ventral larynx representation. Structural and quantitative neuroimaging revealed that myelin content and cortical thickness underlying the dorsal, but not the ventral larynx representation, are similar to those of other primary motor representations. This finding confirms that the dorsal larynx representation is located in primary motor cortex and that the ventral one is not. We further speculate that the location of the ventral larynx representation is in premotor cortex, as seen in other primates. It remains unclear, however, whether and how these two representations differentially contribute to laryngeal motor control.

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Mapping human laryngeal motor cortex during vocalization

10.1101/2020.02.20.958314 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Nicole Eichert ◽

Daniel Papp ◽

Rogier B. Mars ◽

Kate E. Watkins

Keyword(s):

Motor Control ◽

Motor Cortex ◽

Primary Motor Cortex ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Premotor Cortex ◽

Neural Representation ◽

Human Larynx ◽

Motor Representations ◽

Quantitative Neuroimaging ◽

Hand Area

AbstractThe representations of the articulators involved in human speech production are organized somatotopically in primary motor cortex. The neural representation of the larynx, however, remains debated. Both a dorsal and a ventral larynx representation have been previously described. It is unknown, however, whether both representations are located in primary motor cortex. Here, we mapped the motor representations of the human larynx using fMRI and characterized the cortical microstructure underlying the activated regions. We isolated brain activity related to laryngeal activity during vocalization while controlling for breathing. We also mapped the articulators (the lips and tongue) and the hand area. We found two separate activations during vocalization – a dorsal and a ventral larynx representation. Structural and quantitative neuroimaging revealed that myelin content and cortical thickness underlying the dorsal, but not the ventral larynx representation, are similar to those of other primary motor representations. This finding confirms that the dorsal larynx representation is located in primary motor cortex and that the ventral one is not. We further speculate that the location of the ventral larynx representation is in premotor cortex, as seen in other primates. It remains unclear, however, whether and how these two representations differentially contribute to laryngeal motor control.

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Neural correlates of hand-object congruency effects during action planning

10.1101/2020.10.16.342147 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Zuo Zhang ◽

Natalie Nelissen ◽

Peter Zeidman ◽

Nicola Filippini ◽

Jörn Diedrichsen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Response Times ◽

Premotor Cortex ◽

Temporal Cortex ◽

Action Planning ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Hand Orientation ◽

Action Taking ◽

Motor Representations ◽

Increased Activity ◽

Premotor Areas

AbstractSelecting hand actions to manipulate an object is affected both by perceptual factors and by action goals. Affordances are associated with the automatic potentiation of motor representations to an object, independent of the goal of the actor. In previous studies, we have demonstrated an influence of the congruency between hand and object orientations on response times when reaching to turn an object, such as a cup. In this study, we investigated how the representation of hand postures triggered by planning to turn a cup were influenced by this congruency effect, in an fMRI scanning environment. Healthy participants were asked to reach and turn a real cup that was placed in front of them either in an upright orientation or upside down. They were instructed to use a hand orientation that was either congruent or incongruent with the cup orientation. As expected, the motor responses were faster when the hand and cup orientations were congruent. There was increased activity in a network of brain regions involving object-directed actions during action planning, which included bilateral primary and extrastriate visual, medial and superior temporal areas, as well as superior parietal, primary motor and premotor areas in the left hemisphere. Specific activation of the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) was associated with hand-object orientation congruency during planning, and prior to any action taking place. Activity in that area and its connectivity with the lateral occipito-temporal cortex (LOTC) increased when planning incongruent actions. The increased activity in premotor areas in trials where the orientation of the hand was incongruent to that of the object suggests a role in eliciting competing representations specified by hand postures in LOTC.

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Voluntary Movements Discipline Audiovisual Perception

10.31234/osf.io/bqr6u ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Ahmad Yousef

Keyword(s):

Red Blood Cells ◽

Blood Cells ◽

Primary Motor Cortex ◽

Premotor Cortex ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Voluntary Movements ◽

Deep Breathing ◽

Audiovisual Perception ◽

Cognitive Action ◽

Actual Material

We had shown that deep breathing had been able to effectively and timely alter visual and auditory bistable perception, see reference 1, 2. Deep breathing requires cognitive control, and therefore, in this study, we decide to investigate whether voluntary movements of human hands are able to govern the audiovisual perception using an integrative stimulus that’s built up with the aforementioned visual and auditory stimuli. Astoundingly, when the human subjects moves the pen towards the actual physical direction, even without touching the screen; the original materials of the audiovisual stimulus appear. Reversed perception, namely, illusory motion reversals and illusory word appear when the pen is moved in the opposite direction of the actual motion. Cognitive actions’ brain areas, namely, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, premotor cortex, and primary motor cortex may require high concentration of oxygenated hobgoblin red blood cells to achieve fulsome executive movements; and this could results in significant reduction of the concentrations of the oxygenated hobgoblin red blood cells in the visual and auditory cortices. Reductions that disallow one of two; the central versus the peripheral conscious brains dedicated for audiovisual perceptions, to rapidly alternate their conscious productions; and therefore, stoppage against bistable audiovisual perception will occur. We thus hypothesis that the DLPFC may send signals to deactivate the peripheral areas in the sensory brain regions when the cognitive action is harmonized with the actual material; but it may send a contrary signal to deactivate the central areas in the sensory brain regions when the cognitive action and the actual material are disharmonized.

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Connectivity-Related Roles of Contralesional Brain Regions for Motor Performance Early after Stroke

Cerebral Cortex ◽

10.1093/cercor/bhaa270 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Lukas Hensel ◽

Caroline Tscherpel ◽

Jana Freytag ◽

Stella Ritter ◽

Anne K Rehme ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Neural Activity ◽

Motor Performance ◽

Primary Motor Cortex ◽

Effective Connectivity ◽

Premotor Cortex ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽

Resonance Imaging ◽

Anterior Intraparietal Sulcus

Abstract Hemiparesis after stroke is associated with increased neural activity not only in the lesioned but also in the contralesional hemisphere. While most studies have focused on the role of contralesional primary motor cortex (M1) activity for motor performance, data on other areas within the unaffected hemisphere are scarce, especially early after stroke. We here combined functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to elucidate the contribution of contralesional M1, dorsal premotor cortex (dPMC), and anterior intraparietal sulcus (aIPS) for the stroke-affected hand within the first 10 days after stroke. We used “online” TMS to interfere with neural activity at subject-specific fMRI coordinates while recording 3D movement kinematics. Interfering with aIPS activity improved tapping performance in patients, but not healthy controls, suggesting a maladaptive role of this region early poststroke. Analyzing effective connectivity parameters using a Lasso prediction model revealed that behavioral TMS effects were predicted by the coupling of the stimulated aIPS with dPMC and ipsilesional M1. In conclusion, we found a strong link between patterns of frontoparietal connectivity and TMS effects, indicating a detrimental influence of the contralesional aIPS on motor performance early after stroke.

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Seizures are a druggable mechanistic link between TBI and subsequent tauopathy

10.1101/2020.05.12.091819 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Hadeel Alyenbaawi ◽

Richard Kanyo ◽

Laszlo F. Locskai ◽

Razieh Kamali-Jamil ◽

Michèle G. DuVal ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Cell Death ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Brain Regions ◽

List Type ◽

Larval Zebrafish ◽

Post Traumatic

SummaryTraumatic brain injury (TBI) is a prominent risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases and dementias including chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). TBI and CTE, like all tauopathies, are characterized by accumulation of Tau into aggregates that progressively spread to other brain regions in a prion-like manner. The mechanisms that promote spreading and cellular uptake of tau seeds after TBI are not fully understood, in part due to lack of tractable animal models. Here, we test the putative roles for excess neuronal activity and dynamin-dependent endocytosis in promoting the in vivo spread of tauopathy. We introduce ‘tauopathy reporter’ zebrafish expressing a genetically-encoded fluorescent Tau biosensor that reliably reports accumulation of human tau species when seeded via intra-ventricular brain injections. Subjecting zebrafish larvae to a novel TBI paradigm produced various TBI symptoms including cell death, hemorrhage, blood flow abnormalities, post–traumatic seizures, and Tau inclusions. Bath application of anticonvulsant drugs rescued TBI-induced tauopathy and cell death; these benefits were attributable to inhibition of post-traumatic seizures because co-application of convulsants reversed these beneficial effects. However, one convulsant drug, 4-Aminopyridine, unexpectedly abrogated TBI-induced tauopathy - this was due to its inhibitory action on endocytosis as confirmed via additional dynamin inhibitors. These data suggest a role for seizure activity and dynamin-dependent endocytosis in the prion-like seeding and spreading of tauopathy following TBI. Further work is warranted regarding anti-convulsants that dampen post-traumatic seizures as a route to moderating subsequent tauopathy. Moreover, the data highlight the utility of deploying in vivo Tau biosensor and TBI methods in larval zebrafish, especially regarding drug screening and intervention.Graphical AbstractHighlightsIntroduces first Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) model in larval zebrafish, and its easyTBI induces clinically relevant cell death, haemorrhage & post-traumatic seizuresCa2+ imaging during TBI reveals spike in brain activity concomitant with seizuresTau-GFP Biosensor allows repeated in vivo measures of prion-like tau aggregationpost-TBI, anticonvulsants stop tauopathies akin to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

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Involvement of the mirror neuron system and the mentalizing system during communicative gesture production: a meta-analysis

10.7287/peerj.preprints.1975v1 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Jie Yang

Keyword(s):

Primary Motor Cortex ◽

Mirror Neuron System ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Premotor Cortex ◽

Mirror Neuron ◽

Mental States ◽

Neuron System ◽

Motor Representations ◽

Gesture Production ◽

Mentalizing System

Background. Hand gestures play an important role in face-to-face communication. Although studies have shown that the mirror neuron system and the mentalizing system are involved in gesture comprehension, evidence of how the two systems are activated during gesture production is scattered and the conclusion is unclear. Methods. To address this issue, the current meta-analysis used activation likelihood estimation (ALE) method to quantitatively summarize the results of previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies on communicative gesture production. Eight studies were selected based on several criteria (e.g., using fMRI technique, involving healthy adults, using gesture production tasks, conducting whole-brain analysis, and reporting activation foci in the MNI or Talairach space). ALE was conducted to calculate the overall brain effects for gesture production, and subsequently the brain effects for gesture execution, planning, and imitation. Results. The meta-analysis results showed that overall both systems (inferior parietal lobule and medial cortical structures) were involved in gesture production. Further analyses indicated that the mirror neuron system and the primary motor cortex were selectively involved in gesture execution, whereas the menalizing system and the premotor cortex were selectively involved in gesture planning. In gesture imitation, significant effects were found in both systems. Discussion. These results suggest that the mirror neuron system and the mentalizing system play different roles during gesture production. The former may be involved in the processes that require the mapping between observed actions and motor representations or the retrieval of motor representations; whereas the later may be involved when the production tasks require understanding others’ mental states.

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How beat perception coopts motor neurophysiology

10.1101/805838 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jonathan J. Cannon ◽

Aniruddh D. Patel

Keyword(s):

Motor System ◽

Supplementary Motor Area ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Dorsal Striatum ◽

Brain Structures ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Motor Area ◽

List Type ◽

Neural Firing ◽

Temporal Prediction

AbstractBeat perception is central to music cognition. The motor system is involved in beat perception, even in the absence of movement, yet current frameworks for modeling beat perception do not strongly engage with the motor system’s neurocomputational properties. We believe fundamental progress on modeling beat perception requires a synthesis between cognitive science and motor neuroscience, yielding predictions to guide research. Success on this front would be a landmark in the study of how “embodied cognition” is implemented in brain activity. We illustrate this approach by proposing specific roles for two key motor brain structures (the supplementary motor area, and the dorsal striatum of the basal ganglia) in covert beat maintenance, building on current research on their role in actual movement.Highlights⍰Components of the brain’s motor system are activated by the perception of a musical beat, even in the absence of movement, and may play an important role in beat-based temporal prediction.⍰Two key brain regions involved in movement, the supplementary motor area and dorsal striatum, have neurocomputational properties that lend themselves to beat perception.⍰In supplementary motor area, neural firing rates represent the phase of cyclic sensorimotor processes.⍰Supplementary motor area’s involvement in perceptual suppression of self-generated sounds suggests that it could play a broader role in informing auditory expectations.⍰Dorsal striatum plays a central role in initiating and sequencing units of movement, and may serve similar functions in structuring beat-based temporal anticipation.

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Cerebello-thalamo-cortical network is intrinsically altered in essential tremor: evidence from a resting state functional MRI study

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-73714-9 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Valentina Nicoletti ◽

Paolo Cecchi ◽

Ilaria Pesaresi ◽

Daniela Frosini ◽

Mirco Cosottini ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Essential Tremor ◽

Resting State ◽

Primary Motor Cortex ◽

Premotor Cortex ◽

Cortical Network ◽

List Type ◽

Motor Network ◽

Left Thalamus ◽

Mri Study ◽

Premotor Areas

Abstract Cerebello-thalamo-cortical network is suggested to be involved in the pathophysiology of Essential Tremor (ET). 23 patients with ET and 23 matched HC underwent a 3T-MRI with acquisition of a resting state sequence. Connectivity was investigated using a seed-based regression analyses approach. In ET patients were observed: Reduced connectivity between left primary motor cortex (M1) seed and right premotor cortex and cerebellum and bilateral premotor, parietal areas, supplementary motor area (SMA); Increased connectivity between left somatosensory cortex (S1) seed and parietal areas, M1, premotor cortex, SMA; reduced connectivity of this seed with cerebellum. Increased connectivity of SMA seed with premotor cortex and decreased with parietal and precentral areas; Increased connectivity between left thalamus seed and cerebellum; Reduced connectivity between right cerebellum seeds and other cerebellar areas, precentral and premotor areas. ET showed altered connectivity within the cortical sensory-motor network and between cerebral cortex and cerebellum. The increased connectivity between cerebellum and thalamus is consistent with their crucial role in tremor generation. These findings support the dynamical entrainment of multiple central oscillators throughout the cerebello-thalamo-cortical network in ET. This evidence is strengthened by the finding that this network is altered also when the core symptom is absent.

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