1
|
De Schrijver S, Decramer T, Janssen P. Simple visual stimuli are sufficient to drive responses in action observation and execution neurons in macaque ventral premotor cortex. PLoS Biol 2024; 22:e3002358. [PMID: 38768251 PMCID: PMC11142659 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002358] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2023] [Revised: 05/31/2024] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Neurons responding during action execution and action observation were discovered in the ventral premotor cortex 3 decades ago. However, the visual features that drive the responses of action observation/execution neurons (AOENs) have not been revealed at present. We investigated the neural responses of AOENs in ventral premotor area F5c of 4 macaques during the observation of action videos and crucial control stimuli. The large majority of AOENs showed highly phasic responses during the action videos, with a preference for the moment that the hand made contact with the object. They also responded to an abstract shape moving towards but not interacting with an object, even when the shape moved on a scrambled background, implying that most AOENs in F5c do not require the perception of causality or a meaningful action. Additionally, the majority of AOENs responded to static frames of the videos. Our findings show that very elementary stimuli, even without a grasping context, are sufficient to drive responses in F5c AOENs.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sofie De Schrijver
- Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven and the Leuven Brain Institute, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Thomas Decramer
- Research group Experimental Neurosurgery and Neuroanatomy, KU Leuven and the Leuven Brain Institute, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Peter Janssen
- Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven and the Leuven Brain Institute, Leuven, Belgium
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Zhao Z, Schieber MH. Progressively shifting patterns of co-modulation among premotor cortex neurons carry dynamically similar signals during action execution and observation. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2023.11.06.565833. [PMID: 37986800 PMCID: PMC10659317 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.06.565833] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2023]
Abstract
Many neurons in the premotor cortex show firing rate modulation whether the subject performs an action or observes another individual performing a similar action. Although such "mirror neurons" have been thought to have highly congruent discharge during execution and observation, many if not most show non-congruent activity. Studies of such neuronal populations have shown that the most prevalent patterns of co-modulation-captured as neural trajectories-pass through subspaces which are shared in part, but in part are visited exclusively during either execution or observation. These studies focused on reaching movements for which low-dimensional neural trajectories exhibit comparatively simple dynamical motifs. But the neural dynamics of hand movements are more complex. We developed a novel approach to examine prevalent patterns of co-modulation during execution and observation of a task that involved reaching, grasping, and manipulation. Rather than following neural trajectories in subspaces that contain their entire time course, we identified time series of instantaneous subspaces, calculated principal angles among them, sampled trajectory segments at the times of selected behavioral events, and projected those segments into the series of instantaneous subspaces. We found that instantaneous neural subspaces generally remained distinct during execution versus observation. Nevertheless, execution and observation could be partially aligned with canonical correlation, indicating some dynamical similarity of the neural representations of different movements relative to one another during execution and observation which may enable the nervous system to recognize corresponding actions performed by the subject or by another individual and/or may reflect social interaction between the two. During action execution, mirror neurons showed consistent patterns of co-modulation both within and between sessions, but other neurons that were modulated only during action execution and not during observation showed considerable variability of co-modulation. We speculate that during execution, mirror neurons carry a consistent forward model of the intended movement, while action-execution only neurons process more variable feedback.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zhonghao Zhao
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 14627
| | - Marc H. Schieber
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 14627
- Department of Neurology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 14642
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14642
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Ceccarelli F, Ferrucci L, Londei F, Ramawat S, Brunamonti E, Genovesio A. Static and dynamic coding in distinct cell types during associative learning in the prefrontal cortex. Nat Commun 2023; 14:8325. [PMID: 38097560 PMCID: PMC10721651 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43712-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2023] [Accepted: 11/17/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023] Open
Abstract
The prefrontal cortex maintains information in memory through static or dynamic population codes depending on task demands, but whether the population coding schemes used are learning-dependent and differ between cell types is currently unknown. We investigate the population coding properties and temporal stability of neurons recorded from male macaques in two mapping tasks during and after stimulus-response associative learning, and then we use a Strategy task with the same stimuli and responses as control. We identify a heterogeneous population coding for stimuli, responses, and novel associations: static for putative pyramidal cells and dynamic for putative interneurons that show the strongest selectivity for all the variables. The population coding of learned associations shows overall the highest stability driven by cell types, with interneurons changing from dynamic to static coding after successful learning. The results support that prefrontal microcircuitry expresses mixed population coding governed by cell types and changes its stability during associative learning.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Ceccarelli
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Lorenzo Ferrucci
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Fabrizio Londei
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University, 00185, Rome, Italy
- PhD program in Behavioral Neuroscience, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
| | - Surabhi Ramawat
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Emiliano Brunamonti
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Aldo Genovesio
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University, 00185, Rome, Italy.
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Qin C, Michon F, Onuki Y, Ishishita Y, Otani K, Kawai K, Fries P, Gazzola V, Keysers C. Predictability alters information flow during action observation in human electrocorticographic activity. Cell Rep 2023; 42:113432. [PMID: 37963020 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2023] [Revised: 07/27/2023] [Accepted: 10/29/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023] Open
Abstract
The action observation network (AON) has been extensively studied using short, isolated motor acts. How activity in the network is altered when these isolated acts are embedded in meaningful sequences of actions remains poorly understood. Here we utilized intracranial electrocorticography to characterize how the exchange of information across key nodes of the AON-the precentral, supramarginal, and visual cortices-is affected by such embedding and the resulting predictability. We found more top-down beta oscillation from precentral to supramarginal contacts during the observation of predictable actions in meaningful sequences compared to the same actions in randomized, and hence less predictable, order. In addition, we find that expectations enabled by the embedding lead to a suppression of bottom-up visual responses in the high-gamma range in visual areas. These results, in line with predictive coding, inform how nodes of the AON integrate information to process the actions of others.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chaoyi Qin
- Social Brain Lab, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Art and Sciences, 1105 BA Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Frederic Michon
- Social Brain Lab, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Art and Sciences, 1105 BA Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Yoshiyuki Onuki
- Department of Neurosurgery, Jichi Medical University, Tochigi 329-0498, Japan
| | - Yohei Ishishita
- Department of Neurosurgery, Jichi Medical University, Tochigi 329-0498, Japan
| | - Keisuke Otani
- Department of Neurosurgery, Jichi Medical University, Tochigi 329-0498, Japan
| | - Kensuke Kawai
- Department of Neurosurgery, Jichi Medical University, Tochigi 329-0498, Japan
| | - Pascal Fries
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, 60528 Frankfurt, Germany; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Valeria Gazzola
- Social Brain Lab, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Art and Sciences, 1105 BA Amsterdam, the Netherlands; University of Amsterdam, Department of Psychology, Brain & Cognition, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
| | - Christian Keysers
- Social Brain Lab, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Art and Sciences, 1105 BA Amsterdam, the Netherlands; University of Amsterdam, Department of Psychology, Brain & Cognition, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Donelli D, Lazzeroni D, Rizzato M, Antonelli M. Silence and its effects on the autonomic nervous system: A systematic review. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2023; 280:103-144. [PMID: 37714570 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2023.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/17/2023]
Abstract
This systematic review explores the influence of silence on the autonomic nervous system. The Polyvagal Theory has been used as a reference model to describe the autonomic nervous system by explaining its role in emotional regulation, social engagement, and adaptive physiological responses. PubMed, Scopus, PsycInfo, EMBASE, and Google Scholar were systematically searched up until July 2023 for relevant studies. The literature search yielded 511 results, and 37 studies were eventually included in this review. Silence affects the autonomic nervous system differently based on whether it is inner or outer silence. Inner silence enhances activity of the ventral vagus, favoring social engagement, and reducing sympathetic nervous system activity and physiological stress. Outer silence, conversely, can induce a heightened state of alertness, potentially triggering vagal brake removal and sympathetic nervous system activation, though with training, it can foster inner silence, preventing such activation. The autonomic nervous system response to silence can also be influenced by other factors such as context, familiarity with silence, presence and quality of outer noise, and empathy.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Davide Donelli
- Division of Cardiology, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Parma, Parma, Italy.
| | - Davide Lazzeroni
- Prevention and Rehabilitation Unit, IRCCS Fondazione Don Gnocchi, Parma, Italy
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
6
|
Pomper JK, Shams M, Wen S, Bunjes F, Thier P. Non-shared coding of observed and executed actions prevails in macaque ventral premotor mirror neurons. eLife 2023; 12:e77513. [PMID: 37458338 PMCID: PMC10411969 DOI: 10.7554/elife.77513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2022] [Accepted: 07/14/2023] [Indexed: 08/10/2023] Open
Abstract
According to the mirror mechanism the discharge of F5 mirror neurons of a monkey observing another individual performing an action is a motor representation of the observed action that may serve to understand or learn from the action. This hypothesis, if strictly interpreted, requires mirror neurons to exhibit an action tuning that is shared between action observation and execution. Due to insufficient data it remains contentious if this requirement is met. To fill in the gaps, we conducted an experiment in which identical objects had to be manipulated in three different ways in order to serve distinct action goals. Using three methods, including cross-task classification, we found that at most time points F5 mirror neurons did not encode observed actions with the same code underlying action execution. However, in about 20% of neurons there were time periods with a shared code. These time periods formed a distinct cluster and cannot be considered a product of chance. Population classification yielded non-shared coding for observed actions in the whole population, which was at times optimal and consistently better than shared coding in differentially selected subpopulations. These results support the hypothesis of a representation of observed actions based on a strictly defined mirror mechanism only for small subsets of neurons and only under the assumption of time-resolved readout. Considering alternative concepts and recent findings, we propose that during observation mirror neurons represent the process of a goal pursuit from the observer's viewpoint. Whether the observer's goal pursuit, in which the other's action goal becomes the observer's action goal, or the other's goal pursuit is represented remains to be clarified. In any case, it may allow the observer to use expectations associated with a goal pursuit to directly intervene in or learn from another's action.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jörn K Pomper
- Cognitive Neurology Laboratory, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of TübingenTübingenGermany
- Department of Neurology & Stroke, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of TübingenTübingenGermany
| | - Mohammad Shams
- Cognitive Neurology Laboratory, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of TübingenTübingenGermany
- Graduate Training Centre of Neuroscience, International Max Planck Research School, University of Tübingen, 72076 , GermanyTübingenGermany
- Department of Psychology, York UniversityTorontoCanada
| | - Shengjun Wen
- Cognitive Neurology Laboratory, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of TübingenTübingenGermany
- Graduate Training Centre of Neuroscience, International Max Planck Research School, University of Tübingen, 72076 , GermanyTübingenGermany
| | - Friedemann Bunjes
- Cognitive Neurology Laboratory, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of TübingenTübingenGermany
| | - Peter Thier
- Cognitive Neurology Laboratory, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of TübingenTübingenGermany
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Chen Y, Cao H, Liu S, Zhang B, Zhao G, Zhang Z, Li S, Li H, Yu X, Deng H. Brain Structure Measurements Predict Individualized Treatment Outcome of 12-Week Antipsychotic Monotherapies in First-episode Schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull 2023; 49:697-705. [PMID: 37010371 PMCID: PMC10154710 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbad043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/04/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS Early prediction of treatment response to antipsychotics in schizophrenia remains a challenge in clinical practice. This study aimed to investigate if brain morphometries including gray matter volume and cortical thickness could serve as potential predictive biomarkers in first-episode schizophrenia. STUDY DESIGN Sixty-eight drug-naïve first-episode patients underwent baseline structural MRI scans and were subsequently randomized to receive a single antipsychotic throughout the first 12 weeks. Assessments for symptoms and social functioning were conducted by eight "core symptoms" selected from the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS-8) and the Personal and Social performance scale (PSP) multiple times during follow-ups. Treatment outcome was evaluated as subject-specific slope coefficients for PANSS-8 and PSP scores using linear mixed model. LASSO regression model were conducted to examine the performance of baseline gray matter volume and cortical thickness in prediction of individualized treatment outcome. STUDY RESULTS The study showed that individual brain morphometries at baseline, especially the orbitofrontal, temporal and parietal cortex, pallidum and amygdala, significantly predicted 12-week treatment outcome of PANSS-8 (r[predicted vs observed] = 0.49, P = .001) and PSP (r[predicted vs observed] = 0.40, P = .003) in first-episode schizophrenia. Moreover, the gray matter volume performed better than cortical thickness in the prediction the symptom changes (P = .034), while cortical thickness outperformed gray matter volume in the prediction of outcome of social functioning (P = .029). CONCLUSIONS These findings provide initial evidence that brain morphometry have potential to be used as prognostic predictors for antipsychotic response in patients, encouraging the future investigation of the translational value of these measures in precision psychiatry.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ying Chen
- Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Department of Radiology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Hope Recovery and Rehabilitation Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Hengyi Cao
- Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY, USA
- Division of Psychiatry Research, Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, NY, USA
| | - Shanming Liu
- Mental Health Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Bo Zhang
- Mental Health Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | | | - Zhuoqiu Zhang
- Mental Health Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Shuiying Li
- Mental Health Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Haiming Li
- Mental Health Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Xin Yu
- Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing, China
| | - Hong Deng
- Hope Recovery and Rehabilitation Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Mental Health Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Nuara A, Bazzini MC, Cardellicchio P, Scalona E, De Marco D, Rizzolatti G, Fabbri-Destro M, Avanzini P. The value of corticospinal excitability and intracortical inhibition in predicting motor skill improvement driven by action observation. Neuroimage 2023; 266:119825. [PMID: 36543266 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119825] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2022] [Revised: 12/15/2022] [Accepted: 12/17/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The observation of other's actions represents an essential element for the acquisition of motor skills. While action observation is known to induce changes in the excitability of the motor cortices, whether such modulations may explain the amount of motor improvement driven by action observation training (AOT) remains to be addressed. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), we first assessed in 41 volunteers the effect of action observation on corticospinal excitability, intracortical inhibition, and transcallosal inhibition. Subsequently, half of the participants (AOT-group) were asked to observe and then execute a right-hand dexterity task, while the controls had to observe a no-action video before practicing the same task. AOT participants showed greater performance improvement relative to controls. More importantly, the amount of improvement in the AOT group was predicted by the amplitude of corticospinal modulation during action observation and, even more, by the amount of intracortical inhibition induced by action observation. These relations were specific for the AOT group, while the same patterns were not found in controls. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that the efficacy of AOT in promoting motor learning is rooted in the capacity of action observation to modulate the trainee's motor system excitability, especially its intracortical inhibition. Our study not only enriches the picture of the neurophysiological effects induced by action observation onto the observer's motor excitability, but linking them to the efficacy of AOT, it also paves the way for the development of models predicting the outcome of training procedures based on the observation of other's actions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Arturo Nuara
- CNR Neuroscience Institute, via Volturno 39/E, Parma 43125, Italy.
| | | | - Pasquale Cardellicchio
- IIT@UniFe Center for Translational Neurophysiology, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Emilia Scalona
- CNR Neuroscience Institute, via Volturno 39/E, Parma 43125, Italy; Specialità Medico-Chirurgiche, Scienze Radiologiche e Sanità Pubblica (DSMC), Università degli studi di Brescia, Italia
| | - Doriana De Marco
- CNR Neuroscience Institute, via Volturno 39/E, Parma 43125, Italy
| | | | | | - Pietro Avanzini
- CNR Neuroscience Institute, via Volturno 39/E, Parma 43125, Italy; Istituto Clinico Humanitas, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, Milan, Rozzano, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Merken L, Schelles M, Ceyssens F, Kraft M, Janssen P. Thin flexible arrays for long-term multi-electrode recordings in macaque primary visual cortex. J Neural Eng 2022; 19. [PMID: 36215972 DOI: 10.1088/1741-2552/ac98e2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2022] [Accepted: 10/10/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Objective.Basic, translational and clinical neuroscience are increasingly focusing on large-scale invasive recordings of neuronal activity. However, in large animals such as nonhuman primates and humans-in which the larger brain size with sulci and gyri imposes additional challenges compared to rodents, there is a huge unmet need to record from hundreds of neurons simultaneously anywhere in the brain for long periods of time. Here, we tested the electrical and mechanical properties of thin, flexible multi-electrode arrays (MEAs) inserted into the primary visual cortex of two macaque monkeys, and assessed their magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) compatibility and their capacity to record extracellular activity over a period of 1 year.Approach.To allow insertion of the floating arrays into the visual cortex, the 20 by 100µm2shafts were temporarily strengthened by means of a resorbable poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) coating.Main results. After manual insertion of the arrays, theex vivoandin vivoMRI compatibility of the arrays proved to be excellent. We recorded clear single-unit activity from up to 50% of the electrodes, and multi-unit activity (MUA) on 60%-100% of the electrodes, which allowed detailed measurements of the receptive fields and the orientation selectivity of the neurons. Even 1 year after insertion, we obtained significant MUA responses on 70%-100% of the electrodes, while the receptive fields remained remarkably stable over the entire recording period.Significance.Thus, the thin and flexible MEAs we tested offer several crucial advantages compared to existing arrays, most notably in terms of brain tissue compliance, scalability, and brain coverage. Future brain-machine interface applications in humans may strongly benefit from this new generation of chronically implanted MEAs.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lara Merken
- Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium.,Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
| | - Maarten Schelles
- Micro- and Nanosystems (MNS), Electrical Engineering Department (ESAT), KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium.,ReVision Implant NV, Haasrode 3053, Belgium
| | | | - Michael Kraft
- Micro- and Nanosystems (MNS), Electrical Engineering Department (ESAT), KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium.,Leuven Institute for Micro- and Nanotechnology (LIMNI), Leuven 3000, Belgium
| | - Peter Janssen
- Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium.,Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Mirror neurons 30 years later: implications and applications. Trends Cogn Sci 2022; 26:767-781. [PMID: 35803832 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2022.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2021] [Revised: 05/21/2022] [Accepted: 06/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Mirror neurons (MNs) were first described in a seminal paper in 1992 as a class of monkey premotor cells discharging during both action execution and observation. Despite their debated origin and function, recent studies in several species, from birds to humans, revealed that beyond MNs properly so called, a variety of cell types distributed among multiple motor, sensory, and emotional brain areas form a 'mirror mechanism' more complex and flexible than originally thought, which has an evolutionarily conserved role in social interaction. Here, we trace the current limits and envisage the future trends of this discovery, showing that it inspired translational research and the development of new neurorehabilitation approaches, and constitutes a point of no return in social and affective neuroscience.
Collapse
|
11
|
Cerliani L, Bhandari R, De Angelis L, van der Zwaag W, Bazin PL, Gazzola V, Keysers C. Predictive coding during action observation - a depth-resolved intersubject functional correlation study at 7T. Cortex 2022; 148:121-138. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2021.12.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2021] [Revised: 11/23/2021] [Accepted: 12/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
|
12
|
Orban GA, Sepe A, Bonini L. Parietal maps of visual signals for bodily action planning. Brain Struct Funct 2021; 226:2967-2988. [PMID: 34508272 PMCID: PMC8541987 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-021-02378-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2021] [Accepted: 09/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) has long been understood as a high-level integrative station for computing motor commands for the body based on sensory (i.e., mostly tactile and visual) input from the outside world. In the last decade, accumulating evidence has shown that the parietal areas not only extract the pragmatic features of manipulable objects, but also subserve sensorimotor processing of others’ actions. A paradigmatic case is that of the anterior intraparietal area (AIP), which encodes the identity of observed manipulative actions that afford potential motor actions the observer could perform in response to them. On these bases, we propose an AIP manipulative action-based template of the general planning functions of the PPC and review existing evidence supporting the extension of this model to other PPC regions and to a wider set of actions: defensive and locomotor actions. In our model, a hallmark of PPC functioning is the processing of information about the physical and social world to encode potential bodily actions appropriate for the current context. We further extend the model to actions performed with man-made objects (e.g., tools) and artifacts, because they become integral parts of the subject’s body schema and motor repertoire. Finally, we conclude that existing evidence supports a generally conserved neural circuitry that transforms integrated sensory signals into the variety of bodily actions that primates are capable of preparing and performing to interact with their physical and social world.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Guy A Orban
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, via Volturno 39/E, 43125, Parma, Italy.
| | - Alessia Sepe
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, via Volturno 39/E, 43125, Parma, Italy
| | - Luca Bonini
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, via Volturno 39/E, 43125, Parma, Italy.
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Albertini D, Lanzilotto M, Maranesi M, Bonini L. Largely shared neural codes for biological and nonbiological observed movements but not for executed actions in monkey premotor areas. J Neurophysiol 2021; 126:906-912. [PMID: 34379489 PMCID: PMC8846967 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00296.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The neural processing of others' observed actions recruits a large network of brain regions (the action observation network, AON), in which frontal motor areas are thought to play a crucial role. Since the discovery of mirror neurons (MNs) in the ventral premotor cortex, it has been assumed that their activation was conditional upon the presentation of biological rather than nonbiological motion stimuli, supporting a form of direct visuomotor matching. Nonetheless, nonbiological observed movements have rarely been used as control stimuli to evaluate visual specificity, thereby leaving the issue of similarity among neural codes for executed actions and biological or nonbiological observed movements unresolved. Here, we addressed this issue by recording from two nodes of the AON that are attracting increasing interest, namely the ventro-rostral part of the dorsal premotor area F2 and the mesial pre-supplementary motor area F6 of macaques while they 1) executed a reaching-grasping task, 2) observed an experimenter performing the task, and 3) observed a nonbiological effector moving in the same context. Our findings revealed stronger neuronal responses to the observation of biological than nonbiological movement, but biological and nonbiological visual stimuli produced highly similar neural dynamics and relied on largely shared neural codes, which in turn remarkably differed from those associated with executed actions. These results indicate that, in highly familiar contexts, visuo-motor remapping processes in premotor areas hosting MNs are more complex and flexible than predicted by a direct visuomotor matching hypothesis.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Davide Albertini
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
| | - Marco Lanzilotto
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.,Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Monica Maranesi
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
| | - Luca Bonini
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
| |
Collapse
|