scholarly journals Neural Topography and Content of Movement Representations

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Floris P. de Lange ◽  
Peter Hagoort ◽  
Ivan Toni
Keyword(s):  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Motor Imagery ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Imagery Task ◽  
Hand Laterality ◽  
Posterior Parietal

We have used implicit motor imagery to investigate the neural correlates of motor planning independently from actual movements. Subjects were presented with drawings of left or right hands and asked to judge the hand laterality, regardless of the stimulus rotation from its upright orientation. We paired this task with a visual imagery control task, in which subjects were presented with typographical characters and asked to report whether they saw a canonical letter or its mirror image, regardless of its rotation. We measured neurovascular activity with fast event-related fMRI, distinguishing responses parametrically related to motor imagery from responses evoked by visual imagery and other task-related phenomena. By quantifying behavioral and neurovascular correlates of imagery on a trial-by-trial basis, we could discriminate between stimulus-related, mental rotation-related, and response-related neural activity. We found that specific portions of the posterior parietal and precentral cortex increased their activity as a function of mental rotation only during the motor imagery task. Within these regions, the parietal cortex was visually responsive, whereas the dorsal precentral cortex was not. Response- but not rotation-related activity was found around the left central sulcus (putative primary motor cortex) during both imagery tasks. Our study provides novel evidence on the topography and content of movement representations in the human brain. During intended action, the posterior parietal cortex combines somatosensory and visuomotor information, whereas the dorsal premotor cortex generates the actual motor plan, and the primary motor cortex deals with movement execution. We discuss the relevance of these results in the context of current models of action planning.

scholarly journals A study of parietal-motor connectivity by intraoperative dual cortical stimulation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luigi Cattaneo ◽  
Davide Giampiccolo ◽  
Pietro Meneghelli ◽  
Vincenzo Tramontano ◽  
Francesco Sala
Keyword(s):  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Short Latency ◽  
Motor Output ◽  
Cortical Motor ◽  
Sensorimotor Transformations ◽  
Posterior Parietal

Abstractthe function of the primate’s posterior parietal cortex in sensorimotor transformations is well-established, though in humans its complexity is still challenging. Well-established models indicate that the posterior parietal cortex influences motor output indirectly, by means of connections to the premotor cortex, which in turn is directly connected to the motor cortex. The possibility that the posterior parietal cortex could be at the origin of direct afferents to M1 has been suggested in humans but has never been confirmed directly. In the present work we assessed during intraoperative monitoring of the corticospinal tract in brain tumour patients the existence of short-latency effects of parietal stimulation on corticospinal excitability to the upper limb. We identified several foci within the inferior parietal lobule that drove short-latency influences on cortical motor output. Active foci were distributed along the postcentral gyrus and clustered around the anterior intraparietal area and around the parietal operculum. For the first time in humans, the present data show direct evidence in favour of a distributed system of connections from the posterior parietal cortex to the ipsilateral primary motor cortex.

Event-related desynchronization reflects downregulation of intracortical inhibition in human primary motor cortex

2013 ◽  
Vol 110 (5) ◽  
pp. 1158-1166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitsuaki Takemi ◽  
Yoshihisa Masakado ◽  
Meigen Liu ◽  
Junichi Ushiba
Keyword(s):  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Motor Imagery ◽  
Sensorimotor Cortex ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Motor Evoked Potentials ◽  
Short Interval ◽  
Hand Movement ◽  
Intracortical Inhibition ◽  
Imagery Task ◽  
Event Related Desynchronization

There is increasing interest in electroencephalogram (EEG)-based brain-computer interface (BCI) as a tool for rehabilitation of upper limb motor functions in hemiplegic stroke patients. This type of BCI often exploits mu and beta oscillations in EEG recorded over the sensorimotor areas, and their event-related desynchronization (ERD) following motor imagery is believed to represent increased sensorimotor cortex excitability. However, it remains unclear whether the sensorimotor cortex excitability is actually correlated with ERD. Thus we assessed the association of ERD with primary motor cortex (M1) excitability during motor imagery of right wrist movement. M1 excitability was tested by motor evoked potentials (MEPs), short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI), and intracortical facilitation (ICF) with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Twenty healthy participants were recruited. The participants performed 7 s of rest followed by 5 s of motor imagery and received online visual feedback of the ERD magnitude of the contralateral hand M1 while performing the motor imagery task. TMS was applied to the right hand M1 when ERD exceeded predetermined thresholds during motor imagery. MEP amplitudes, SICI, and ICF were recorded from the agonist muscle of the imagined hand movement. Results showed that the large ERD during wrist motor imagery was associated with significantly increased MEP amplitudes and reduced SICI but no significant changes in ICF. Thus ERD magnitude during wrist motor imagery represents M1 excitability. This study provides electrophysiological evidence that a motor imagery task involving ERD may induce changes in corticospinal excitability similar to changes accompanying actual movements.

scholarly journals Timing-dependent modulation of the posterior parietal cortex–primary motor cortex pathway by sensorimotor training

2012 ◽  
Vol 107 (11) ◽  
pp. 3190-3199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anke Karabanov ◽  
Seung-Hyun Jin ◽  
Atte Joutsen ◽  
Brach Poston ◽  
Joshua Aizen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Motor Evoked Potentials ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Initial Increase ◽  
Sensorimotor Training ◽  
Time Points ◽  
Posterior Parietal

Interplay between posterior parietal cortex (PPC) and ipsilateral primary motor cortex (M1) is crucial during execution of movements. The purpose of the study was to determine whether functional PPC–M1 connectivity in humans can be modulated by sensorimotor training. Seventeen participants performed a sensorimotor training task that involved tapping the index finger in synchrony to a rhythmic sequence. To explore differences in training modality, one group ( n = 8) learned by visual and the other ( n = 9) by auditory stimuli. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was used to assess PPC–M1 connectivity before and after training, whereas electroencephalography (EEG) was used to assess PPC–M1 connectivity during training. Facilitation from PPC to M1 was quantified using paired-pulse TMS at conditioning-test intervals of 2, 4, 6, and 8 ms by measuring motor-evoked potentials (MEPs). TMS was applied at baseline and at four time points (0, 30, 60, and 180 min) after training. For EEG, task-related power and coherence were calculated for early and late training phases. The conditioned MEP was facilitated at a 2-ms conditioning-test interval before training. However, facilitation was abolished immediately following training, but returned to baseline at subsequent time points. Regional EEG activity and interregional connectivity between PPC and M1 showed an initial increase during early training followed by a significant decrease in the late phases. The findings indicate that parietal–motor interactions are activated during early sensorimotor training when sensory information has to be integrated into a coherent movement plan. Once the sequence is encoded and movements become automatized, PPC–M1 connectivity returns to baseline.

PTMS65 Plasticity in the posterior parietal cortex primary motor cortex pathway induced by motor training

2011 ◽  
Vol 122 ◽  
pp. S198
Author(s):  
A. Karabanov ◽  
S.-H. Jin ◽  
A. Joutsen ◽  
P. Brach ◽  
J. Aizen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Motor Training ◽  
Posterior Parietal

scholarly journals Neural Dissociations between Action Verb Understanding and Motor Imagery

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 2387-2400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roel M. Willems ◽  
Ivan Toni ◽  
Peter Hagoort ◽  
Daniel Casasanto
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Motor Imagery ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Mental Simulation ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Imagery Task ◽  
Cortical Motor ◽  
Motor Representations ◽  
Action Verbs

According to embodied theories of language, people understand a verb like throw, at least in part, by mentally simulating throwing. This implicit simulation is often assumed to be similar or identical to motor imagery. Here we used fMRI to test whether implicit simulations of actions during language understanding involve the same cortical motor regions as explicit motor imagery. Healthy participants were presented with verbs related to hand actions (e.g., to throw) and nonmanual actions (e.g., to kneel). They either read these verbs (lexical decision task) or actively imagined performing the actions named by the verbs (imagery task). Primary motor cortex showed effector-specific activation during imagery, but not during lexical decision. Parts of premotor cortex distinguished manual from nonmanual actions during both lexical decision and imagery, but there was no overlap or correlation between regions activated during the two tasks. These dissociations suggest that implicit simulation and explicit imagery cued by action verbs may involve different types of motor representations and that the construct of “mental simulation” should be distinguished from “mental imagery” in embodied theories of language.

scholarly journals Functional Connectivity at Rest between the Human Medial Posterior Parietal Cortex and the Primary Motor Cortex Detected by Paired-Pulse Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1357
Author(s):  
Rossella Breveglieri ◽  
Sara Borgomaneri ◽  
Matteo Filippini ◽  
Marina De Vitis ◽  
Alessia Tessari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Conditioning Stimulus ◽  
Visuomotor Integration ◽  
Posterior Parietal

The medial posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is involved in the complex processes of visuomotor integration. Its connections to the dorsal premotor cortex, which in turn is connected to the primary motor cortex (M1), complete the fronto-parietal network that supports important cognitive functions in the planning and execution of goal-oriented movements. In this study, we wanted to investigate the time-course of the functional connectivity at rest between the medial PPC and the M1 using dual-site transcranial magnetic stimulation in healthy humans. We stimulated the left M1 using a suprathreshold test stimulus to elicit motor-evoked potentials in the hand, and a subthreshold conditioning stimulus was applied over the left medial PPC at different inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs). The conditioning stimulus affected the M1 excitability depending on the ISI, with inhibition at longer ISIs (12 and 15 ms). We suggest that these modulations may reflect the activation of different parieto-frontal pathways, with long latency inhibitions likely recruiting polisynaptic pathways, presumably through anterolateral PPC.

Experience Influences Brain Mechanisms of Watching Dance

2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (supplement) ◽  
pp. 352-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seon Hee Jang ◽  
Frank E Pollick
Keyword(s):  
Motor Imagery ◽  
Visual Experience ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Action Observation ◽  
Brain Area ◽  
Retrosplenial Cortex ◽  
Imagery Task ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
Action Observation Network ◽  
Viewing Experience

The study of dance has been helpful to advance our understanding of how human brain networks of action observation are influenced by experience. However previous studies have not examined the effect of extensive visual experience alone: for example, an art critic or dance fan who has a rich experience of watching dance but negligible experience performing dance. To explore the effect of pure visual experience we performed a single experiment using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to compare the neural processing of dance actions in 3 groups: a) 14 ballet dancers, b) 10 experienced viewers, c) 12 novices without any extensive dance or viewing experience. Each of the 36 participants viewed short 2-second displays of ballet derived from motion capture of a professional ballerina. These displays represented the ballerina as only points of light at the major joints. We wished to study the action observation network broadly and thus included two different types of display and two different tasks for participants to perform. The two different displays were: a) brief movies of a ballet action and b) frames from the ballet movies with the points of lights connected by lines to show a ballet posture. The two different tasks were: a) passively observe the display and b) imagine performing the action depicted in the display. The two levels of display and task were combined factorially to produce four experimental conditions (observe movie, observe posture, motor imagery of movie, motor imagery of posture). The set of stimuli used in the experiment are available for download after this paper. A random effects ANOVA was performed on brain activity and an effect of experience was obtained in seven different brain areas including: right Temporoparietal Junction (TPJ), left Retrosplenial Cortex (RSC), right Primary Somatosensory Cortex (S1), bilateral Primary Motor Cortex (M1), right Orbitofrontal Cortex (OFC), right Temporal Pole (TP). The patterns of activation were plotted in each of these areas (TPJ, RSC, S1, M1, OFC, TP) to investigate more closely how the effect of experience changed across these areas. For this analysis, novices were treated as baseline and the relative effect of experience examined in the dancer and experienced viewer groups. Interpretation of these results suggests that both visual and motor experience appear equivalent in producing more extensive early processing of dance actions in early stages of representation (TPJ and RSC) and we hypothesise that this could be due to the involvement of autobiographical memory processes. The pattern of results found for dancers in S1 and M1 suggest that their perception of dance actions are enhanced by embodied processes. For example, the S1 results are consistent with claims that this brain area shows mirror properties. The pattern of results found for the experienced viewers in OFC and TP suggests that their perception of dance actions are enhanced by cognitive processes. For example, involving aspects of social cognition and hedonic processing – the experienced viewers find the motor imagery task more pleasant and have richer connections of dance to social memory. While aspects of our interpretation are speculative the core results clearly show common and distinct aspects of how viewing experience and physical experience shape brain responses to watching dance.

scholarly journals Cerebellar rTMS and PAS effectively induce cerebellar plasticity

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martje G. Pauly ◽  
Annika Steinmeier ◽  
Christina Bolte ◽  
Feline Hamami ◽  
Elinor Tzvi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Cortical Excitability ◽  
Motor Evoked Potentials ◽  
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Motor Pathways ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Cerebellar Plasticity

AbstractNon-invasive brain stimulation techniques including repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS), paired associative stimulation (PAS), and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) have been applied over the cerebellum to induce plasticity and gain insights into the interaction of the cerebellum with neo-cortical structures including the motor cortex. We compared the effects of 1 Hz rTMS, cTBS, PAS and tDCS given over the cerebellum on motor cortical excitability and interactions between the cerebellum and dorsal premotor cortex / primary motor cortex in two within subject designs in healthy controls. In experiment 1, rTMS, cTBS, PAS, and tDCS were applied over the cerebellum in 20 healthy subjects. In experiment 2, rTMS and PAS were compared to sham conditions in another group of 20 healthy subjects. In experiment 1, PAS reduced cortical excitability determined by motor evoked potentials (MEP) amplitudes, whereas rTMS increased motor thresholds and facilitated dorsal premotor-motor and cerebellum-motor cortex interactions. TDCS and cTBS had no significant effects. In experiment 2, MEP amplitudes increased after rTMS and motor thresholds following PAS. Analysis of all participants who received rTMS and PAS showed that MEP amplitudes were reduced after PAS and increased following rTMS. rTMS also caused facilitation of dorsal premotor-motor cortex and cerebellum-motor cortex interactions. In summary, cerebellar 1 Hz rTMS and PAS can effectively induce plasticity in cerebello-(premotor)-motor pathways provided larger samples are studied.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document