Coding Observed Motor Acts: Different Organizational Principles in the Parietal and Premotor Cortex of Humans

2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Jastorff ◽  
Chiara Begliomini ◽  
Maddalena Fabbri-Destro ◽  
Giacomo Rizzolatti ◽  
Guy A. Orban
Keyword(s):  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Inferior Parietal Lobule ◽  
Ventral Part ◽  
Social Ability ◽  
Video Clips ◽  
Parietal Lobule ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Organizational Principles ◽  
Motor Acts

Understanding actions of conspecifics is a fundamental social ability depending largely on the activation of a parieto-frontal network. Using functional MRI (fMRI), we studied how goal-directed movements (i.e., motor acts) performed by others are coded within this network. In the first experiment, we presented volunteers with video clips showing four different motor acts (dragging, dropping, grasping, and pushing) performed with different effectors (foot, hand, and mouth). We found that the coding of observed motor acts differed between premotor and parietal cortex. In the premotor cortex, they clustered according to the effector used, and in the inferior parietal lobule (IPL), they clustered according to the type of the observed motor act, regardless of the effector. Two subsequent experiments in which we directly contrasted these four motor acts indicated that, in IPL, the observed motor acts are coded according to the relationship between agent and object: Movements bringing the object toward the agent (grasping and dragging) activate a site corresponding approximately to the ventral part of the putative human AIP (phAIP), whereas movements moving the object away from the agent (pushing and dropping) are clustered dorsally within this area. These data provide indications that the phAIP region plays a role in categorizing motor acts according to their behavioral significance. In addition, our results suggest that in the case of motor acts typically done with the hand, the representations of such acts in phAIP are used as templates for coding motor acts executed with other effectors.

The Extended Mirror Neuron Network

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Bonini
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Mirror Neurons ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Mirror Neuron ◽  
Inferior Parietal Lobule ◽  
Neuron Network ◽  
Social Functions ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Parietal Lobule ◽  
Subcortical Regions

Mirror neurons (MNs) are a fascinating class of cells originally discovered in the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) and, subsequently, in the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) of the macaque, which become active during both the execution and observation of actions. In this review, I will first highlight the mounting evidence indicating that mirroring others’ actions engages a broad system of reciprocally connected cortical areas, which extends well beyond the classical IPL-PMv circuit and might even include subcortical regions such as the basal ganglia. Then, I will present the most recent findings supporting the idea that the observation of one’s own actions, which might play a role in the ontogenetic origin and tuning of MNs, retains a particular relevance within the adult MN system. Finally, I will propose that both cortical and subcortical mechanisms do exist to decouple MN activity from the motor output, in order to render it exploitable for high-order perceptual, cognitive, and even social functions. The findings reviewed here provide an original framework for envisaging the main challenges and experimental directions of future neurophysiological and neuroanatomical studies of the monkey MN system.

Functional Properties of Parietal Hand Manipulation–related Neurons and Mirror Neurons Responding to Vision of Own Hand Action

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 560-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazutaka Maeda ◽  
Hiroaki Ishida ◽  
Katsumi Nakajima ◽  
Masahiko Inase ◽  
Akira Murata
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Visual Feedback ◽  
Mirror Neurons ◽  
Target Object ◽  
Lateral View ◽  
Inferior Parietal Lobule ◽  
Visual Responses ◽  
Video Clips ◽  
Parietal Lobule ◽  
Hand Action

Parietofrontal pathways play an important role in visually guided motor control. In this pathway, hand manipulation-related neurons in the inferior parietal lobule represent 3-D properties of an object and motor patterns to grasp it. Furthermore, mirror neurons show visual responses that are concerned with the actions of others and motor-related activity during execution of the same grasping action. Because both of these categories of neurons integrate visual and motor signals, these neurons may play a role in motor control based on visual feedback signals. The aim of this study was to investigate whether these neurons in inferior parietal lobule including the anterior intraparietal area and PFG of macaques represent visual images of the monkey's own hand during a self-generated grasping action. We recorded 235 neurons related to hand manipulation tasks. Of these, 54 responded to video clips of the monkey's own hand action, the same as visual feedback during that action or clips of the experimenter's hand action in a lateral view. Of these 54 neurons, 25 responded to video clips of the monkey's own hand, even without an image of the target object. We designated these 25 neurons as “hand-type.” Thirty-three of 54 neurons that were defined as mirror neurons showed visual responses to the experimenter's action and motor responses. Thirteen of these mirror neurons were classified as hand-type. These results suggest that activity of hand manipulation-related and mirror neurons in anterior intraparietal/PFG plays a fundamental role in monitoring one's own body state based on visual feedback.

scholarly journals Regional brain gray matter volume in world-class artistic gymnasts

2020 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Makoto Fukuo ◽  
Koji Kamagata ◽  
Mana Kuramochi ◽  
Christina Andica ◽  
Hiroyuki Tomita ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gray Matter ◽  
Brain Plasticity ◽  
Middle Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Precentral Gyrus ◽  
Inferior Parietal Lobule ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Intensive Training ◽  
World Class ◽  
Parietal Lobule ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract The relationship between long-term intensive training and brain plasticity in gymnasts has recently been reported. However, the relationship between abilities in different gymnastic events and brain structural changes has not been explored. This study aimed to evaluate the correlation between world-class gymnasts (WCGs)’ specific abilities in different gymnastics events and their gray matter (GM) volume. Ten right-handed Japanese male WCGs and 10 right-handed gender- and age-matched controls with no history of gymnastic training participated in this study. Whole brain three-dimensional T1-weighted images (magnetization-prepared rapid gradient-echo sequence) with 0.90 mm3 voxels were obtained using a 3 T-MRI scanner from each subject. Volume-based morphometry (VolBM) was used to compare GM volume differences between WCGs and controls. We then explored the correlation between specific gymnastic abilities using different gymnastic apparatuses, and GM volume. Significantly higher GM volumes (false discovery rate-corrected p < 0.05) in the inferior parietal lobule, middle temporal gyrus, precentral gyrus, rostral middle frontal gyrus, and superior frontal gyrus were demonstrated in WCGs, compared with controls using VolBM. Moreover, significant positive correlations were observed between brain regions and the difficulty scores for each gymnastic event, for example, rings and inferior parietal lobule and parallel bars and rostral middle frontal gyrus. These results may reflect the neural basis of an outstanding gymnastic ability resulting from brain plasticity in areas associated with spatial perception, vision, working memory, and motor control.

Colonialism and the Highland Clearances

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iain Mackinnon
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Development ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Indigenous Research ◽  
Internal Colonialism ◽  
New Approach ◽  
A Site ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Imperial State ◽  
Late Modern

This article employs a new approach to studying internal colonialism in northern Scotland during the 18th and 19th centuries. A common approach to examining internal colonial situations within modern state territories is to compare characteristics of the internal colonial situation with attested attributes of external colonial relations. Although this article does not reject the comparative approach, it seeks to avoid criticisms that this approach can be misleading by demonstrating that promoters and managers of projects involving land use change, territorial dispossession and industrial development in the late modern Gàidhealtachd consistently conceived of their work as projects of colonization. It further argues that the new social, cultural and political structures these projects imposed on the area's indigenous population correspond to those found in other colonial situations, and that racist and racialist attitudes towards Gaels of the time are typical of those in colonial situations during the period. The article concludes that the late modern Gàidhealtachd has been a site of internal colonization where the relationship of domination between colonizer and colonized is complex, longstanding and occurring within the imperial state. In doing so it demonstrates that the history and present of the Gaels of Scotland belongs within the ambit of an emerging indigenous research paradigm.

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