Disembodied Mind: Cortical Changes Following Brainstem Injury in Patients with Locked-in Syndrome

Locked-in syndrome (LIS) following ventral brainstem damage is the most severe form of motor disability. Patients are completely entrapped in an unresponsive body despite consciousness is preserved. Although the main feature of LIS is this extreme motor impairment, minor non-motor dysfunctions such as motor imagery defects and impaired emotional recognition have been reported suggesting an alteration of embodied cognition, defined as the effects that the body and its performances may have on cognitive domains. We investigated the presence of structural cortical changes in LIS, which may account for the reported cognitive dysfunctions. For this aim, magnetic resonance imaging scans were acquired in 11 patients with LIS (6 males and 5 females; mean age: 52.3±5.2SD years; mean time interval from injury to evaluation: 9±1.2SD months) and 44 healthy control subjects matching patients for age, sex and education. Freesurfer software was used to process data and to estimate cortical volumes in LIS patients as compared to healthy subjects. Results showed a selective cortical volume loss in patients involving the superior frontal gyrus, the pars opercularis and the insular cortex in the left hemisphere, and the superior and medium frontal gyrus, the pars opercularis, the insular cortex, and the superior parietal lobule in the right hemisphere. As these structures are typically associated with the mirror neuron system, which represents the neural substrate for embodied simulation processes, our results provide neuroanatomical support for potential disembodiment in LIS.

Download Full-text

Sign Language Interpreting in Theatre: Using the Human Body to Create Pictures of the Human Soul

TranscUlturAl A Journal of Translation and Cultural Studies ◽

10.21992/t9n33b ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 45

Author(s):

Michael Richardson

Keyword(s):

Sign Language ◽

Mirror Neuron System ◽

Mirror Neuron ◽

The Body ◽

Literary Translation ◽

Human Soul ◽

Neuron System ◽

Theatre Studies ◽

Neurological Research ◽

Sign Language Interpreting

This paper explores theatrical interpreting for Deaf spectators, a specialism that both blurs the separation between translation and interpreting, and replaces these potentials with a paradigm in which the translator's body is central to the production of the target text. Meaningful written translations of dramatic texts into sign language are not currently possible. For Deaf people to access Shakespeare or Moliere in their own language usually means attending a sign language interpreted performance, a typically disappointing experience that fails to provide accessibility or to fulfil the potential of a dynamically equivalent theatrical translation. I argue that when such interpreting events fail, significant contributory factors are the challenges involved in producing such a target text and the insufficient embodiment of that text. The second of these factors suggests that the existing conference and community models of interpreting are insufficient in describing theatrical interpreting. I propose that a model drawn from Theatre Studies, namely psychophysical acting, might be more effective for conceptualising theatrical interpreting. I also draw on theories from neurological research into the Mirror Neuron System to suggest that a highly visual and physical approach to performance (be that by actors or interpreters) is more effective in building a strong actor-spectator interaction than a performance in which meaning is conveyed by spoken words. Arguably this difference in language impact between signed and spoken is irrelevant to hearing audiences attending spoken language plays, but I suggest that for all theatre translators the implications are significant: it is not enough to create a literary translation as the target text; it is also essential to produce a text that suggests physicality. The aim should be the creation of a text which demands full expression through the body, the best picture of the human soul and the fundamental medium of theatre.

Download Full-text

Listening to Action-related Sentences Activates Fronto-parietal Motor Circuits

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/0898929053124965 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 273-281 ◽

Cited By ~ 646

Author(s):

Marco Tettamanti ◽

Giovanni Buccino ◽

Maria Cristina Saccuman ◽

Vittorio Gallese ◽

Massimo Danna ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mirror Neuron System ◽

Syntactic Structure ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Premotor Cortex ◽

Mirror Neuron ◽

Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽

Cortical Circuits ◽

Action Execution ◽

Motor Circuits ◽

Pars Opercularis

Observing actions made by others activates the cortical circuits responsible for the planning and execution of those same actions. This observation–execution matching system (mirror-neuron system) is thought to play an important role in the understanding of actions made by others. In an fMRI experiment, we tested whether this system also becomes active during the processing of action-related sentences. Participants listened to sentences describing actions performed with the mouth, the hand, or the leg. Abstract sentences of comparable syntactic structure were used as control stimuli. The results showed that listening to action-related sentences activates a left fronto-parieto-temporal network that includes the pars opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus (Broca's area), those sectors of the premotor cortex where the actions described are motorically coded, as well as the inferior parietal lobule, the intraparietal sulcus, and the posterior middle temporal gyrus. These data provide the first direct evidence that listening to sentences that describe actions engages the visuomotor circuits which subserve action execution and observation.

Download Full-text

The inner experience of time

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2009.0003 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 364 (1525) ◽

pp. 1955-1967 ◽

Cited By ~ 134

Author(s):

Marc Wittmann

Keyword(s):

Time Perception ◽

Cognitive Processes ◽

Insular Cortex ◽

The Body ◽

Viewing Time ◽

Time Interval ◽

Neurophysiological Mechanism ◽

Experience Of Time ◽

Recent Developments ◽

The Brain

The striking diversity of psychological and neurophysiological models of ‘time perception’ characterizes the debate on how and where in the brain time is processed. In this review, the most prominent models of time perception will be critically discussed. Some of the variation across the proposed models will be explained, namely (i) different processes and regions of the brain are involved depending on the length of the processed time interval, and (ii) different cognitive processes may be involved that are not necessarily part of a core timekeeping system but, nevertheless, influence the experience of time. These cognitive processes are distributed over the brain and are difficult to discern from timing mechanisms. Recent developments in the research on emotional influences on time perception, which succeed decades of studies on the cognition of temporal processing, will be highlighted. Empirical findings on the relationship between affect and time, together with recent conceptualizations of self- and body processes, are integrated by viewing time perception as entailing emotional and interoceptive (within the body) states. To date, specific neurophysiological mechanisms that would account for the representation of human time have not been identified. It will be argued that neural processes in the insular cortex that are related to body signals and feeling states might constitute such a neurophysiological mechanism for the encoding of duration.

Download Full-text

Electroencephalographic evidence for the involvement of mirror neuron and error monitoring related processes in virtual body ownership

10.1101/795773 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Gal Raz ◽

Guy Gurevitch ◽

Tom Vaknin ◽

Araz Aazamy ◽

Iddo Gefen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mirror Neuron System ◽

Mirror Neuron ◽

Experimental Manipulation ◽

The Body ◽

Virtual Object ◽

Body Ownership ◽

Error Monitoring ◽

Rehabilitation Protocols ◽

Semantic Congruence ◽

Virtual Body

AbstractThe illusion that an artificial or virtual object becomes part of one’s body has been demonstrated and productively investigated in the past two decades. Empirical and theoretical accounts of this phenomenon suggest that the body ownership illusion relies not on a single process, but rather on the alignment of the biological and the alternative bodies across multiple aspects. However, the portrayal of these aspects and the demarcation of their neurophysiological correlates has yet to be established.Our study examines electroencephalographic (EEG) markers of two extensively studied systems in the context of virtual body ownership illusion: the mirror neuron system (MNS) and the error monitoring system (EMS). We designed an experimental manipulation of brief involuntary virtual hand bounces, which triggers both systems, and examined how the response of EEG markers of these systems to this manipulation is modulated by three aspects of body ownership: agency, visuotactile synchronicity, and semantic congruence between the participant’s hands and its virtual representation.We found evidence for enhanced MNS-related suppression of power at the Mu band in the synchronous and semantic congruence conditions. On the other hand, the EMS-related Pe/P300 wave was reduced by semantic congruence. This Pe/P300 effect was stronger among participants who exhibited higher acceptance of the spatial illusion and increased tendency for affective empathy. Mu power and Pe/P300 were not correlated, suggesting a dissociation between the distinct aspects of body ownership they probe. The findings suggest that synchronicity and semantic congruence induce sensorimotor sensitivity to the alternative body, whereas the latter parameter also buffers minor erroneous virtual motions. These neurophysiological markers may be added to the arsenal of body ownership probes, and integrated in VR rehabilitation protocols.

Download Full-text

Predicting the actions of other agents

10.31237/osf.io/jenv9 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Lincoln J Colling

Keyword(s):

Joint Action ◽

Mirror Neuron System ◽

Mirror Neuron ◽

Empirical Support ◽

The Body ◽

Action Prediction ◽

Movement Dynamics ◽

Action Coordination ◽

Timely Fashion

The ability to predict the actions of other agents is vital for joint action tasks where the actions of two actors must be coordinated in a timely fashion. Recent accounts suggest that action prediction might be implemented by a system that allows actors to generate predictions about perceived actions by emulating those actions using their own motor systems. In particular, it has been suggested that actors are able to use their own inverse models for action to predict what actions another agent might select in order to realise a particular goal, and that actors are able to use their own forward models for action to generate predictions about the unfolding dynamics of perceived actions. The body of this thesis is divided into three sections (Part II–IV) and examines the empirical support for these hypotheses as well as their theoretical implications. In Part II, Chapter 2 confirms that observers are able to generate more accurate predictions when their own movement dynamics more closely match the movement dynamics of the observed action. Further more, the results also suggest that the output of the prediction system is available in a timely fashion suggesting that it can be used for joint action coordination. Chapter 3 examines what factors might assist observers to reconstruct the motor codes responsible for generating perceived actions by specially examining the inìuence of limb and joint in formation on the prediction of perceived actions. The results suggest that limb and joint information allows observers to generate more accurate predictions about observed actions, but that this effect is limited to those observers who have motor experience with the observed actions. Chapter 4 rules out an alternative explanation for the results obtained in Chapter 2, that differences in action prediction can be explained by self-similarity in action production between the action production and subsequent action prediction phases of the experiment. In Part III, Chapter 5 presents a framework for understanding joint action coordination wherein an attempt is made to extend well understood mechanisms of action control into the domain of joint action. This framework might assist with trying to understand the phenomenology of joint action and experiences such as group flow. In Part IV, Chapter 6 examines the role of action prediction mechanisms in a domain other than traditional conceptions of joint action. Specifically, it examines the role of action prediction and action synchronisation in musically evoked emotion. Finally, the implications of this thesis are discussed as they relate to our understanding of the nature of joint action, phenomenology of joint action, functions of the mirror-neuron system, and the role of sensorimotor systems in cognition.

Download Full-text

Dysfunction of the Human Mirror Neuron System in Ideomotor Apraxia: Evidence from Mu Suppression

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_00936 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 28 (6) ◽

pp. 775-791 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Silvi Frenkel-Toledo ◽

Dario G. Liebermann ◽

Shlomo Bentin ◽

Nachum Soroker

Keyword(s):

Right Hemisphere ◽

Mirror Neuron System ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Mirror Neuron ◽

Stroke Patients ◽

Neuron System ◽

Mu Suppression ◽

Ideomotor Apraxia ◽

Manual Movements ◽

The Right

Stroke patients with ideomotor apraxia (IMA) have difficulties controlling voluntary motor actions, as clearly seen when asked to imitate simple gestures performed by the examiner. Despite extensive research, the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying failure to imitate gestures in IMA remain controversial. The aim of the current study was to explore the relationship between imitation failure in IMA and mirror neuron system (MNS) functioning. Mirror neurons were found to play a crucial role in movement imitation and in imitation-based motor learning. Their recruitment during movement observation and execution is signaled in EEG recordings by suppression of the lower (8–10 Hz) mu range. We examined the modulation of EEG in this range in stroke patients with left (n = 21) and right (n = 15) hemisphere damage during observation of video clips showing different manual movements. IMA severity was assessed by the DeRenzi standardized diagnostic test. Results showed that failure to imitate observed manual movements correlated with diminished mu suppression in patients with damage to the right inferior parietal lobule and in patients with damage to the right inferior frontal gyrus pars opercularis—areas where major components of the human MNS are assumed to reside. Voxel-based lesion symptom mapping revealed a significant impact on imitation capacity for the left inferior and superior parietal lobules and the left post central gyrus. Both left and right hemisphere damages were associated with imitation failure typical of IMA, yet a clear demonstration of relationship to the MNS was obtained only in the right hemisphere damage group. Suppression of the 8–10 Hz range was stronger in central compared with occipital sites, pointing to a dominant implication of mu rather than alpha rhythms. However, the suppression correlated with De Renzi's apraxia test scores not only in central but also in occipital sites, suggesting a multifactorial mechanism for IMA, with a possible impact for deranged visual attention (alpha suppression) beyond the effect of MNS damage (mu suppression).

Download Full-text

Mirror neuron therapy for hemispatial neglect patients

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/srep08664 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Wei Wang ◽

Xin Zhang ◽

Xiangtong Ji ◽

Qian Ye ◽

Wenli Chen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Right Hemisphere ◽

Parietal Lobe ◽

Mirror Neuron System ◽

Mirror Neuron ◽

Training Procedure ◽

Hemispatial Neglect ◽

Novel Therapy ◽

The Difference ◽

The Individual ◽

The Right

Abstract Mirror neuron system(MNS) based therapy has been employed to treat stroke induced movement disorders. However, its potential effects on patients with hemispatial neglect were uninvestigated. The present study set out to test the therapeutic efficiency of video watching of series of hand actions/movements (protocol A) in two patients with left hemispatial neglect, due to the right hemisphere stroke. The video containing dynamic landscape of natural scene or cities but not human/animals was used as the protocol B. The “ABA” training procedure for 3 weeks therefore allows us to internally control the individual differences. Before and after each week of training, the Chinese behavioral inattention test- Hongkong version (CBIT-HK) was implemented to evaluate the hemispatial neglect severity. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment was implemented in two health subjects to reveal the difference of brain activation between protocol A and B. The results showed that protocol A rather than protocol B significantly improved the CBIT-HK scores at first and third weeks, respectively. Protocol A induced more bilateral activations including right inferior parietal lobe (supramarginal gyrus), which belongs to MNS and is also critical region resulting to hemineglect. Conclusion: MNS activation can provide a novel therapy for hemispatial neglect patients.

Download Full-text

Social Cognition in Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome

Zeitschrift für Neuropsychologie ◽

10.1024/1016-264x/a000272 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 30 (4) ◽

pp. 243-249

Author(s):

Ronja Weiblen ◽

Melanie Jonas ◽

Sören Krach ◽

Ulrike M. Krämer

Keyword(s):

Tourette Syndrome ◽

Social Cognitive ◽

Mirror Neuron System ◽

Mirror Neuron ◽

Theoretical Work ◽

Neural Processes ◽

The Social ◽

Decision Making System ◽

Social Decision Making ◽

Work Done

Abstract. Research on the neural mechanisms underlying Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) has mostly concentrated on abnormalities in basal ganglia circuits. Recent alternative accounts, however, focused more on social and affective aspects. Individuals with GTS show peculiarities in their social and affective domain, including echophenomena, coprolalia, and nonobscene socially inappropriate behavior. This article reviews the experimental and theoretical work done on the social symptoms of GTS. We discuss the role of different social cognitive and affective functions and associated brain networks, namely, the social-decision-making system, theory-of-mind functions, and the so-called “mirror-neuron” system. Although GTS affects social interactions in many ways, and although the syndrome includes aberrant social behavior, the underlying cognitive, affective, and neural processes remain to be investigated.

Download Full-text