scholarly journals Sequences of Abstract Nonbiological Stimuli Share Ventral Premotor Cortex with Action Observation and Imagery

2004 ◽  
Vol 24 (24) ◽  
pp. 5467-5474 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. I. Schubotz
Keyword(s):  
Action Observation ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Ventral Premotor Cortex

scholarly journals The left ventral premotor cortex is involved in hand shaping for intransitive gestures: evidence from a two-person imitation experiment

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. 181356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arran T. Reader ◽  
Nicholas P. Holmes
Keyword(s):  
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Action Observation ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Control Site ◽  
Movement Speed ◽  
Hand Shaping ◽  
Ventral Premotor Cortex ◽  
Action Imitation ◽  
Control Research

The ventral premotor cortex (PMv) is involved in grasping and object manipulation, while the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) has been suggested to play a role in reaching and action selection. These areas have also been associated with action imitation, but their relative roles in different types of action imitation are unclear. We examined the role of the left PMv and PMd in meaningful and meaningless action imitation by using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Participants imitated meaningful and meaningless actions performed by a confederate actor while both individuals were motion-tracked. rTMS was applied over the left PMv, left PMd or a vertex control site during action observation or imitation. Digit velocity was significantly greater following stimulation over the PMv during imitation compared with stimulation over the PMv during observation, regardless of action meaning. Similar effects were not observed over the PMd or vertex. In addition, stimulation over the PMv increased finger movement speed in a (non-imitative) finger–thumb opposition task. We suggest that claims regarding the role of the PMv in object-directed hand shaping may stem from the prevalence of object-directed designs in motor control research. Our results indicate that the PMv may have a broader role in ‘target-directed’ hand shaping, whereby different areas of the hand are considered targets to act upon during intransitive gesturing.

scholarly journals Disrupting the Ventral Premotor Cortex Interferes with the Contribution of Action Observation to Use-dependent Plasticity

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 3757-3766 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Cantarero ◽  
Joseph M. Galea ◽  
Loni Ajagbe ◽  
Rachel Salas ◽  
Jeff Willis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Action Observation ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Motor Training ◽  
Stroke Patients ◽  
Dependent Plasticity ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Ventral Premotor Cortex ◽  
Cortical Motor

Action observation (AO), observing another individual perform an action, has been implicated in several higher cognitive processes including forming basic motor memories. Previous work has shown that physical practice (PP) results in cortical motor representational changes, referred to as use-dependent plasticity (UDP), and that AO combined with PP potentiates UDP in both healthy adults and stroke patients. In humans, AO results in activation of the ventral premotor cortex (PMv), however, whether this PMv activation has a functional contribution to UDP is not known. Here, we studied the effects disruption of PMv has on UDP when subjects performed PP combined with AO (PP + AO). Subjects participated in two randomized crossover sessions measuring the amount of UDP resulting from PP + AO while receiving disruptive (1 Hz) TMS over the fMRI-activated PMv or over frontal cortex (Sham). We found that, unlike the sham session, disruptive TMS over PMv reduced the beneficial contribution of AO to UDP. To ensure that disruption of PMv was specifically interfering with the contribution of AO and not PP, subjects completed two more control sessions where they performed only PP while receiving disruptive TMS over PMv or frontal cortex. We found that the magnitude of UDP for both control sessions was similar to PP + AO with TMS over PMv. These findings suggest that the fMRI activation found in PMv during AO studies is functionally relevant to task performance, at least for the beneficial effects that AO exerts over motor training.

scholarly journals Predictive coding account of action perception: Evidence from effective connectivity in the Action Observation Network

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Burcu A. Urgen ◽  
Ayse P. Saygin
Keyword(s):  
Effective Connectivity ◽  
Action Observation ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Predictive Coding ◽  
Causal Modeling ◽  
Action Perception ◽  
Feedback Connection ◽  
Ventral Premotor Cortex ◽  
Action Observation Network ◽  
Observation Network

AbstractVisual perception of actions is supported by a network of brain regions in the occipito-temporal, parietal, and premotor cortex in the primate brain, known as the Action Observation Network (AON). Although there is a growing body of research that characterizes the functional properties of each node of this network, the communication and direction of information flow between the nodes is unclear. According to the predictive coding account of action perception, this network is not a purely feedforward system but has feedback connections through which prediction error signals are communicated between the regions of the AON. In the present study, we investigated the effective connectivity of the AON in an experimental setting where the human subjects’ predictions about the observed agent were violated, using fMRI and Dynamical Causal Modeling (DCM). We specifically examined the influence of the lowest and highest nodes in the AON hierarchy, pSTS and ventral premotor cortex, respectively, on the middle node, inferior parietal cortex during prediction violation. Our DCM results suggest that the influence on the inferior parietal node is through a feedback connection from ventral premotor cortex during perception of actions that violate people’s predictions.

scholarly journals The left ventral premotor cortex is involved in hand shaping for intransitive gestures: evidence from a two-person imitation experiment

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arran T Reader ◽  
Nicholas Paul Holmes
Keyword(s):  
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Action Observation ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Control Site ◽  
Movement Speed ◽  
Hand Shaping ◽  
Ventral Premotor Cortex ◽  
Action Imitation ◽  
Control Research

The ventral premotor cortex (PMv) is involved in grasping and object manipulation, whilst the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) has been suggested to play a role in reaching and action selection. These areas have also been associated with action imitation, but their relative roles in different types of action imitation are unclear. We examined the role of the left PMv and PMd in meaningful and meaningless action imitation by using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Participants imitated meaningful and meaningless actions performed by a confederate actor whilst both individuals were motion-tracked. rTMS was applied over the left PMv, left PMd, or a vertex control site during action observation or imitation. Digit velocity was significantly greater following stimulation over the PMv during imitation compared to stimulation over the PMv during observation, regardless of action meaning. Similar effects were not observed over the PMd or vertex. In addition, stimulation over the PMv increased finger movement speed in a (non-imitative) finger-thumb opposition task. We suggest that claims regarding the role of the PMv in object-directed hand shaping may stem from the prevalence of object-directed designs in motor control research. Our results indicate that the PMv may have a broader role in ‘target-directed’ hand shaping, whereby different areas of the hand are considered targets to act upon during intransitive gesturing.

scholarly journals Movement initiation and grasp representation in premotor and primary motor cortex mirror neurons

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerjian S.J. ◽  
Sahani M. ◽  
Kraskov A.
Keyword(s):  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Mirror Neurons ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Action Observation ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Movement Control ◽  
Reach To Grasp ◽  
Movement Initiation ◽  
Population Activity ◽  
Ventral Premotor Cortex

AbstractPyramidal tract neurons (PTNs) within macaque rostral ventral premotor cortex (F5) and primary motor cortex (M1) provide direct input to spinal circuitry and are critical for skilled movement control, but surprisingly, can also be active during passive action observation. We recorded from single neurons, including identified PTNs in the hand and arm area of primary motor cortex (M1) (n=189), and in premotor area F5 (n=115) of two adult male macaques, while they executed, observed, or simply withheld (NoGo) reach-to-grasp and hold actions. We found that F5 maintains a more sustained, similar representation of grasping actions during both execution and observation. In contrast, although some M1 neurons mirrored during the grasp and hold, M1 population activity during observation contained signatures of a withholding state. This suggests that M1 and its output may dissociates signals required for the initiation of movement from those associated with the representation of grasp in order to flexibly guide behaviour.Significance StatementVentral premotor cortex (area F5) maintains a similar representation of grasping actions during both execution and observation. Primary motor cortex and its outputs dissociate between movement and non-movement states.

scholarly journals Multichannel recordings in dorsal and ventral premotor cortex during a reach-to-grasp task

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofie De Schrijver ◽  
Elsie Premereur ◽  
Thomas Decramer ◽  
Peter Janssen
Keyword(s):  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Reach To Grasp ◽  
Ventral Premotor Cortex ◽  
Multichannel Recordings
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