fMRI Activation during Observation of Others' Reach Errors

When exposed to novel dynamical conditions (e.g., externally imposed forces), neurologically intact subjects easily adjust motor commands on the basis of their own reaching errors. Subjects can also benefit from visual observation of others' kinematic errors. Here, using fMRI, we scanned subjects watching movies depicting another person learning to reach in a novel dynamic environment created by a robotic device. Passive observation of reaching movements (whether or not they were perturbed by the robot) was associated with increased activation in fronto-parietal regions that are normally recruited in active reaching. We found significant clusters in parieto-occipital cortex, intraparietal sulcus, as well as in dorsal premotor cortex. Moreover, it appeared that part of the network that has been shown to be engaged in processing self-generated reach error is also involved in observing reach errors committed by others. Specifically, activity in left intraparietal sulcus and left dorsal premotor cortex, as well as in right cerebellar cortex, was modulated by the amplitude of observed kinematic errors.

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Reaching Movements With Similar Hand Paths but Different Arm Orientations. II. Activity of Individual Cells in Dorsal Premotor Cortex and Parietal Area 5

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.1997.78.5.2413 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 78 (5) ◽

pp. 2413-2426 ◽

Cited By ~ 122

Author(s):

Stephen H. Scott ◽

Lauren E. Sergio ◽

John F. Kalaska

Keyword(s):

Neuronal Activity ◽

Premotor Cortex ◽

Cell Activity ◽

Reaching Movements ◽

Movement Direction ◽

Dorsal Premotor Cortex ◽

Cortical Areas ◽

Parietal Area ◽

Area 5 ◽

Interaction Term

Scott, Stephen H., Lauren E. Sergio, and John F. Kalaska. Reaching movements with similar hand paths but different arm orientations. II. Activity of individual cells in dorsal premotor cortex and parietal area 5. J. Neurophysiol. 78: 2413–2426, 1997. Neuronal activity in primary motor cortex (MI) is altered when monkeys make reaching movements along similar handpaths at shoulder level with two different arm orientations, either in the natural orientation with the elbow positioned below the level of the shoulder and hand or in an abducted orientation with the elbow abducted nearly to shoulder level. The present study examines to what degree two other cortical areas, the dorsal premotor (PMd) and parietal area 5, also show modulation of cell activity related to arm geometry during reaching. The activity of most (89%) of the 207 cells in PMd recorded while monkeys made reaching movements showed a statistically significant change in activity between orientations [analysis of variation (ANOVA), P < 0.01]. A common effect of arm orientation on cell activity was a change in the overall level of discharge either before, during, and/or after movement (67%, ANOVA, task main effect, P < 0.01). Many cells (76%) showed a statistical change in their response to movement direction (ANOVA, task × direction interaction term, P < 0.01), including changes in dynamic range and changes in the preferred direction of cells that were directionally tuned in both arm orientations. Overall, these effects were similar qualitatively but not as strong quantitatively as those observed in MI. A sample of cells was recorded in area 5 of one monkey. Most (95%) of the 79 area 5 cells showed a change in activity when reaching movements were performed using different arm orientations (ANOVA, P < 0.01). As in PMd and MI, many area 5 cells (56, 71%) showed changes in their tonic discharge before, during, and/or after movement, and 70 cells (89%) showed changes in their response to movement direction (ANOVA, task × direction interaction term, P < 0.01). The observed changes in neuronal activity related to posture and movement in MI, PMd and area 5 demonstrate that single-cell activity in these cortical areas is not simply related to the spatial attributes of hand trajectory but is also strongly influenced by attributes of movement related to arm geometry.

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Interactions between pairs of transcranial magnetic stimuli over the human left dorsal premotor cortex differ from those seen in primary motor cortex

The Journal of Physiology ◽

10.1113/jphysiol.2006.123562 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 578 (2) ◽

pp. 551-562 ◽

Cited By ~ 74

Author(s):

Giacomo Koch ◽

Michele Franca ◽

Hitoshi Mochizuki ◽

Barbara Marconi ◽

Carlo Caltagirone ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Motor Cortex ◽

Primary Motor Cortex ◽

Premotor Cortex ◽

Dorsal Premotor Cortex

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Modest Gaze-Related Discharge Modulation in Monkey Dorsal Premotor Cortex During a Reaching Task Performed With Free Fixation

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00995.2001 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 88 (2) ◽

pp. 1064-1072 ◽

Cited By ~ 41

Author(s):

Paul Cisek ◽

John F. Kalaska

Keyword(s):

Premotor Cortex ◽

Cell Activity ◽

Delay Period ◽

Gaze Direction ◽

Dorsal Premotor Cortex ◽

Experimental Conditions ◽

Reaching Task ◽

Oculomotor Behavior ◽

Arm Reaching ◽

Gaze Angle

Recent studies have shown that gaze angle modulates reach-related neural activity in many cortical areas, including the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd), when gaze direction is experimentally controlled by lengthy periods of imposed fixation. We looked for gaze-related modulation in PMd during the brief fixations that occur when a monkey is allowed to look around freely without experimentally imposed gaze control while performing a center-out delayed arm-reaching task. During the course of the instructed-delay period, we found significant effects of gaze angle in 27–51% of PMd cells. However, for 90–95% of cells, these effects accounted for <20% of the observed discharge variance. The effect of gaze was significantly weaker than the effect of reach-related variables. In particular, cell activity during the delay period was more strongly related to the intended movement expressed in arm-related coordinates than in gaze-related coordinates. Under the same experimental conditions, many cells in medial parietal cortex exhibited much stronger gaze-related modulation and expressed intended movement in gaze-related coordinates. In summary, gaze direction-related modulation of cell activity is indeed expressed in PMd during the brief fixations that occur in natural oculomotor behavior, but its overall effect on cell activity is modest.

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Muscimol injections into the premotor cortex induced directional errors in memory-guided reaching movements

Neuroscience Research Supplements ◽

10.1016/0921-8696(92)91104-e ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 17 ◽

pp. 221

Author(s):

Itaru Yamane ◽

Toshiyuki Sawaguchi ◽

Kisou Kubota

Keyword(s):

Premotor Cortex ◽

Reaching Movements

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A novel dual-site transcranial magnetic stimulation paradigm to probe fast facilitatory inputs from ipsilateral dorsal premotor cortex to primary motor cortex

NeuroImage ◽

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.05.023 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 62 (1) ◽

pp. 500-509 ◽

Cited By ~ 40

Author(s):

Sergiu Groppa ◽

Nicole Werner-Petroll ◽

Alexander Münchau ◽

Günther Deuschl ◽

Matthew F.S. Ruschworth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽

Motor Cortex ◽

Magnetic Stimulation ◽

Primary Motor Cortex ◽

Premotor Cortex ◽

Dorsal Premotor Cortex ◽

Stimulation Paradigm ◽

Dual Site

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Disentangling Mathematics from Executive Functions by Investigating Unique Functional Connectivity Patterns Predictive of Mathematics Ability

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_01367 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (4) ◽

pp. 560-573 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kenny Skagerlund ◽

Taylor Bolt ◽

Jason S. Nomi ◽

Mikael Skagenholt ◽

Daniel Västfjäll ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Resting State ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Premotor Cortex ◽

Mathematical Ability ◽

Angular Gyrus ◽

Intraparietal Sulcus ◽

Supramarginal Gyrus ◽

Connectivity Patterns ◽

The Right

What are the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms that give rise to mathematical competence? This study investigated the relationship between tests of mathematical ability completed outside the scanner and resting-state functional connectivity (FC) of cytoarchitectonically defined subdivisions of the parietal cortex in adults. These parietal areas are also involved in executive functions (EFs). Therefore, it remains unclear whether there are unique networks for mathematical processing. We investigate the neural networks for mathematical cognition and three measures of EF using resting-state fMRI data collected from 51 healthy adults. Using 10 ROIs in seed to whole-brain voxel-wise analyses, the results showed that arithmetical ability was correlated with FC between the right anterior intraparietal sulcus (hIP1) and the left supramarginal gyrus and between the right posterior intraparietal sulcus (hIP3) and the left middle frontal gyrus and the right premotor cortex. The connection between the posterior portion of the left angular gyrus and the left inferior frontal gyrus was also correlated with mathematical ability. Covariates of EF eliminated connectivity patterns with nodes in inferior frontal gyrus, angular gyrus, and middle frontal gyrus, suggesting neural overlap. Controlling for EF, we found unique connections correlated with mathematical ability between the right hIP1 and the left supramarginal gyrus and between hIP3 bilaterally to premotor cortex bilaterally. This is partly in line with the “mapping hypothesis” of numerical cognition in which the right intraparietal sulcus subserves nonsymbolic number processing and connects to the left parietal cortex, responsible for calculation procedures. We show that FC within this circuitry is a significant predictor of math ability in adulthood.

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