An fMRI study of action observation and action execution in childhood

The Neuroscience of Dance: A Conceptual Framework and Systematic Review

Ancient and culturally universal, dance pervades many areas of life and has multiple benefits. In this article, we provide a conceptual framework and systematic review, as a guide for researching the neuroscience of dance. We identified relevant articles following PRISMA guidelines, and summarised and evaluated all original results. We identified avenues for future research in: the interactive and collective aspects of dance; groove; dance performance; dance observation; and dance therapy. Furthermore, the interactive and collective aspects of dance constitute a vital part of the field but have received almost no attention from a neuroscientific perspective so far. Dance and music engage overlapping brain networks, including common regions involved in perception, action, and emotion. In music and dance, rhythm, melody, and harmony are processed in an active, sustained pleasure cycle giving rise to action, emotion, and learning, led by activity in specific hedonic brain networks. The neuroscience of dance is an exciting field, which may yield information concerning links between psychological processes and behaviour, human flourishing, and the concept of eudaimonia.

Relational vs representational social cognitive processing: a coordinate-based meta-analysis of neuroimaging data

The neurocognitive bases of social cognition have been framed in terms of representing others' actions through the mirror system and their mental states via the mentalizing network. Alongside representing another person's actions or mental states, however, social cognitive processing is also shaped by their (mis)match with one's own corresponding states. Here, we addressed the distinction between representing others' states through the action observation or mentalizing networks (i.e. representational processing) and detecting the extent to which such states align with one's own ones (i.e. relational processing, mediated by social conflict). We took a meta-analytic approach to unveil the neural bases of both relational and representational processing by focusing on previously reported brain activations from functional magnetic resonance imaging studies using false-belief and action observation tasks. Our findings suggest that relational processing for belief and action states involves, respectively, the left and right temporo-parietal junction, likely contributing to self-other differentiation. Moreover, distinct sectors of the posterior fronto-medial cortex support social conflict processing for belief and action, possibly through the inhibition of conflictual representations. These data might pave the way for further studies addressing social conflict as an important component of normal and pathological processing, and inform the design of rehabilitative treatments for social deficits.

Action Observation Network Activity Related to Object-Directed and Socially-Directed Actions in Adolescents

The human action observation network (AON) encompasses brain areas consistently engaged when we observe other's actions. Although the core nodes of the AON are present from childhood, it is not known to what extent they are sensitive to different action features during development. Because social cognitive abilities continue to mature during adolescence, the AON response to socially-oriented actions, but not to object-related actions, may differ in adolescents and adults. To test this hypothesis, we scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) male and female typically-developing teenagers (n = 28; 13 females) and adults (n = 25; 14 females) while they passively watched videos of manual actions varying along two dimensions: sociality (i.e., directed toward another person or not) and transitivity (i.e., involving an object or not). We found that action observation recruited the same fronto-parietal and occipito-temporal regions in adults and adolescents. The modulation of voxel-wise activity according to the social or transitive nature of the action was similar in both groups of participants. Multivariate pattern analysis, however, revealed that decoding accuracies in intraparietal sulcus (IPS)/superior parietal lobe (SPL) for both sociality and transitivity were lower for adolescents compared with adults. In addition, in the lateral occipital temporal cortex (LOTC), generalization of decoding across the orthogonal dimension was lower for sociality only in adolescents. These findings indicate that the representation of the content of others' actions, and in particular their social dimension, in the adolescent AON is still not as robust as in adults.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The activity of the action observation network (AON) in the human brain is modulated according to the purpose of the observed action, in particular the extent to which it involves interaction with an object or with another person. How this conceptual representation of actions is implemented during development is largely unknown. Here, using multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, we discovered that, while the action observation network is in place in adolescence, the fine-grain organization of its posterior regions is less robust than in adults to decode the abstract social dimensions of an action. This finding highlights the late maturation of social processing in the human brain.

Effectiveness of robot-assisted virtual reality mirror therapy for upper limb motor dysfunction after stroke: study protocol for a single-center randomized controlled clinical trial

Background

Upper limb motor dysfunction is a common sequela of stroke, and its clinical efficacy needs to be improved. This protocol describes a trial to verify the clinical efficacy of robot-assisted virtual reality mirror therapy (RAVRMT) in improving upper limb motor dysfunction in stroke patients, and to explore the central mechanism by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Methods

This trial will be a single-center, assessor-blinded, randomized controlled clinical study. Thirty-two eligible patients will be randomly divided into 2 groups according to the ratio of 1:1, namely virtual reality mirror therapy (VRMT) group and robot-assisted virtual reality mirror therapy (RAVRMT) group. The interventions will be performed once a day for 4 weeks. Primary outcome is Fugl–Meyer motor function assessment-Upper Extremity (FMA-UE), secondary outcomes are the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), activities of daily living (ADL), quality of life (QOL), the pain visual analogue scale (VAS-pain) and fMRI. Adverse events will be recorded, and severe adverse events will be used as criteria to discontinue the intervention.

Discussion

Combined application of robot-assisted therapy and virtual reality mirror therapy could theoretically activate mirror neuron system and reward circuits to a greater extent, but further high-quality research is needed. The results of this trial will determine whether RAVRMT could better improve upper limb motor dysfunction after stroke and explore its central mechanism using fMRI.

Trial registration

This trial was prospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (ChiCTR2200061721; 01 July 2022).

Developmental differences in brain functional connectivity during social interaction in middle childhood

The transition from childhood to adolescence is marked by significant changes in peer interactions. However, limited research has examined the brain systems (e.g., mentalizing and reward networks) involved in direct peer interaction, particularly during childhood and early adolescence. Here, we analyzed fMRI data from 50 children aged 8–12 years while they participated in a task in which they chatted with a peer (Peer) or answered questions about a story character (Character). Using a beta-series correlation analysis, we investigated how social interaction modulates functional connectivity within and between mentalizing and reward networks and whether this modulation changes with age. We observed effects of social interaction on functional connectivity were modulated by age within the mentalizing and reward networks. Further, greater connectivity within and between these networks during social interaction was related to faster reaction time to the Peer versus Character condition. Similar effects were found in the salience and mirror neuron networks. These findings provide insights into age-related differences in how the brain supports social interaction, and thus have the potential to advance our understanding of core social difficulties in social-communicative disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder.

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We examined brain functional connectivity in a social-interactive context.

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The effect of social partner on mentalizing and reward networks was modulated by age.

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Connectivity within and between these networks is related to behavioral performance.

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These effects are also found in salience and mirror neuron networks.

Cerebral hemodynamic response during a live action-observation and action-execution task: A fNIRS study

Although many studies have examined the location of the action observation network (AON) in human adults, the shared neural correlates of action-observation and action-execution are still unclear partially due to lack of ecologically valid neuroimaging measures. In this study, we aim to demonstrate the feasibility of using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure the neural correlates of action-observation and action execution regions during a live task. Thirty adults reached for objects or observed an experimenter reaching for objects while their cerebral hemodynamic responses including oxy-hemoglobin (HbO) and deoxy-hemoglobin (HbR) were recorded in the sensorimotor and parietal regions. Our results indicated that the parietal regions, including bilateral superior parietal lobule (SPL), bilateral inferior parietal lobule (IPL), right supra-marginal region (SMG) and right angular gyrus (AG) share neural activity during action-observation and action-execution. Our findings confirm the applicability of fNIRS for the study of the AON and lay the foundation for future work with developmental and clinical populations.

How Action Shapes Body Ownership Momentarily and Throughout the Lifespan

Objects which a human agent controls by efferent activities (such as real or virtual tools) can be perceived by the agent as belonging to his or her body. This suggests that what an agent counts as “body” is plastic, depending on what she or he controls. Yet there are possible limitations for such momentary plasticity. One of these limitations is that sensations stemming from the body (e.g., proprioception) and sensations stemming from objects outside the body (e.g., vision) are not integrated if they do not sufficiently “match”. What “matches” and what does not is conceivably determined by long–term experience with the perceptual changes that body movements typically produce. Children have accumulated less sensorimotor experience than adults have. Consequently, they express higher flexibility to integrate body-internal and body-external signals, independent of their “match” as suggested by rubber hand illusion studies. However, children’s motor performance in tool use is more affected by mismatching body-internal and body-external action effects than that of adults, possibly because of less developed means to overcome such mismatches. We review research on perception-action interactions, multisensory integration, and developmental psychology to build bridges between these research fields. By doing so, we account for the flexibility of the sense of body ownership for actively controlled events and its development through ontogeny. This gives us the opportunity to validate the suggested mechanisms for generating ownership by investigating their effects in still developing and incomplete stages in children. We suggest testable predictions for future studies investigating both body ownership and motor skills throughout the lifespan.

Combined action observation and motor imagery: An intervention to combat the neural and behavioural deficits associated with developmental coordination disorder

Action observation (AO) and motor imagery (MI) have been used separately across different populations to alleviate movement impairment. Recently these two forms of covert motor simulation have been combined (combined action observation and motor imagery; AOMI), resulting in greater neurophysiological activity in the motor system, and more favourable behavioural outcomes when compared to independent AO and MI. This review aims to outline how some of the neural deficits associated with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) are evident during AO and MI, and highlight how these motor simulation techniques have been used independently to improve motor skill learning in children in this population. The growing body of evidence indicating that AOMI is superior to the independent use of either AO and MI is then synthesised and discussed in the context of children with DCD. To conclude, recommendations to optimise the delivery of AOMI for children with DCD are provided and future avenues for research are highlighted.

Mental rotation performance in young adults with and without developmental coordination disorder

While there have been consistent behavioural reports of atypical hand rotation task (HRT) performance in adults with developmental coordination disorder (DCD), this study aimed to clarify whether this deficit could be attributed to specific difficulties in motor imagery (MI), as opposed to broad deficits in general mental rotation. Participants were 57 young adults aged 18-30 years with (n = 22) and without DCD (n = 35). Participants were compared on the HRT, a measure of MI, and the letter number rotation task (LNRT), a common visual imagery task. Only participants whose behavioural performance on the HRT suggested use of a MI strategy were included in group comparisons. Young adults with DCD were significantly less efficient compared to controls when completing the HRT yet showed comparable performance on the LNRT relative to adults with typical motor ability. Our data are consistent with the view that atypical HRT performance in adults with DCD is likely to be attributed to specific difficulties engaging in MI, as opposed to deficits in general mental rotation. Based on the theory that MI provides insight into the integrity of internal action representations, these findings offer further support for the internal modelling deficit hypothesis of DCD.

Using Functional Connectivity to Examine the Correlation between Mirror Neuron Network and Autistic Traits in a Typically Developing Sample: A fNIRS Study

Mirror neuron network (MNN) is associated with one's ability to recognize and interpret others' actions and emotions and has a crucial role in cognition, perception, and social interaction. MNN connectivity and its relation to social attributes, such as autistic traits have not been thoroughly examined. This study aimed to investigate functional connectivity in the MNN and assess relationship between MNN connectivity and subclinical autistic traits in neurotypical adults. Hemodynamic responses, including oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin were measured in the central and parietal cortex of 30 healthy participants using a 24-channel functional Near-Infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) system during a live action-observation and action-execution task. Functional connectivity was derived from oxy-hemoglobin data. Connections with significantly greater connectivity in both tasks were assigned to MNN connectivity. Correlation between connectivity and autistic traits were performed using Pearson correlation. Connections within the right precentral, right supramarginal, left inferior parietal, left postcentral, and between left supramarginal-left angular regions were identified as MNN connections. In addition, individuals with higher subclinical autistic traits present higher connectivity in both action-execution and action-observation conditions. Positive correlation between MNN connectivity and subclinical autistic traits can be used in future studies to investigate MNN in a developing population with autism spectrum disorder.

Characterizing the Action-Observation Network Through Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy: A Review

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a neuroimaging technique that has undergone tremendous growth over the last decade due to methodological advantages over other measures of brain activation. The action-observation network (AON), a system of brain structures proposed to have “mirroring” abilities (e.g., active when an individual completes an action or when they observe another complete that action), has been studied in humans through neural measures such as fMRI and electroencephalogram (EEG); however, limitations of these methods are problematic for AON paradigms. For this reason, fNIRS is proposed as a solution to investigating the AON in humans. The present review article briefly summarizes previous neural findings in the AON and examines the state of AON research using fNIRS in adults. A total of 14 fNIRS articles are discussed, paying particular attention to methodological choices and considerations while summarizing the general findings to aid in developing better protocols to study the AON through fNIRS. Additionally, future directions of this work are discussed, specifically in relation to researching AON development and potential multimodal imaging applications.

Evidence of cortical thickness reduction and disconnection in high myopia

High myopia (HM) is associated with impaired long-distance vision. accumulating evidences reported that abnormal visual experience leads to dysfunction in brain activity in HM even corrected. However, whether the long-term of abnormal visual experience lead to neuroanatomical changes remain unknown, the aim at this study is to investigate the alternation of cortical surface thickness in HM patients. 82 patients with HM (HM groups), 57 healthy controls (HC groups) were recruited. All participants underwent high-resolution T1 and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. The cortical thickness analysis was preformed to investigate the neuroanatomical changes in HM patients using computational anatomy toolbox (CAT 12) toolbox. Compare with HCs, HM patients showed decreased the cortical surface thickness in the left middle occipital gyrus (MOG), left inferior parietal lobule (IPL), right inferior temporal gyrus (ITG), right precuneus, right primary visual area 1 (V1), right superior temporal gyrus (STG), right superior parietal lobule (SPL), right occipital pole, and right the primary motor cortex (M1), and increased to the parietal operculum (OP4) (P < 0.01, FWE-corrected), the mean cortical thickness of right orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and right subcallosal cortex showed negatively correlation between clinical variables (axis length (ALM), the average macular thickness (AMT), keratometer (KER) 1, KER2, the mean KER, the mean macular fovea thickness (MFK), the refractive diopter) in HM patients. Our result mainly provided an evidence of cortical thickness reduction and disconnection in visual center and visual processing area, and cortical thickness increase in left multimodal integration region in HM patients. This may provide important significance of the study of the neural mechanism of HM.

Symptoms of depersonalisation/derealisation disorder as measured by brain electrical activity: A systematic review

Depersonalisation/derealisation disorder (DPD) refers to frequent and persistent detachment from bodily self and disengagement from the outside world. As a dissociative disorder, DPD affects 1-2 % of the population, but takes 7-12 years on average to be accurately diagnosed. In this systematic review, we comprehensively describe research targeting the neural correlates of core DPD symptoms, covering publications between 1992 and 2020 that have used electrophysiological techniques. The aim was to investigate the diagnostic potential of these relatively inexpensive and convenient neuroimaging tools. We review the EEG power spectrum, components of the event-related potential (ERP), as well as vestibular and heartbeat evoked potentials as likely electrophysiological biomarkers to study DPD symptoms. We argue that acute anxiety- or trauma-related impairments in the integration of interoceptive and exteroceptive signals play a key role in the formation of DPD symptoms, and that future research needs analysis methods that can take this integration into account. We suggest tools for prospective studies of electrophysiological DPD biomarkers, which are urgently needed to fully develop their diagnostic potential.

Developmental trajectory of interpersonal motor alignment: Positive social effects and link to social cognition

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Interpersonal motor alignment (IMA) has positive effects on healthy social life.

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IMA - mimicry, synchrony, automatic imitation - is studied throughout development.

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It relies on motor resonance brain mechanisms identified throughout development.

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It is modulated by contextual and personal factors.

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IMA is underinvestigated in adolescence, yet it may aid to enhance resilience.

Interpersonal motor alignment is a ubiquitous behavior in daily social life. It is a building block for higher social cognition, including empathy and mentalizing and promotes positive social effects. It can be observed as mimicry, synchrony and automatic imitation, to name a few. These phenomena rely on motor resonance processes, i.e., a direct link between the perception of an action and its execution. While a considerable literature debates its underlying mechanisms and measurement methods, the question of how motor alignment comes about and changes in ontogeny all the way until adulthood, is rarely discussed specifically. In this review we will focus on the link between interpersonal motor alignment, positive social effects and social cognition in infants, children, and adolescents, demonstrating that this link is present early on in development. Yet, in reviewing the existing literature pertaining to social psychology and developmental social cognitive neuroscience, we identify a knowledge gap regarding the healthy developmental changes in interpersonal motor alignment especially in adolescence.

Adjusting ADJUST: Optimizing the ADJUST algorithm for pediatric data using geodesic nets

A major challenge for electroencephalograph (EEG) studies on pediatric populations is that large amounts of data are lost due to artifacts (e.g., movement and blinks). Independent component analysis (ICA) can separate artifactual and neural activity, allowing researchers to remove such artifactual activity and retain a greater percentage of EEG data for analyses. However, manual identification of artifactual components is time-consuming and requires subjective judgment. Automated algorithms, like ADJUST and ICLabel, have been validated on adults, but to our knowledge, no such algorithms have been optimized for pediatric data. Therefore, in an attempt to automate artifact selection for pediatric data collected with geodesic nets, we modified ADJUST's algorithm. Our "adjusted-ADJUST" algorithm was compared to the "original-ADJUST" algorithm and ICLabel in adults, children, and infants on three different performance measures: respective classification agreement with expert coders, the number of trials retained following artifact removal, and the reliability of the EEG signal after preprocessing with each algorithm. Overall, the adjusted-ADJUST algorithm performed better than the original-ADJUST algorithm and no ICA correction with adult and pediatric data. Moreover, in some measures, it performed better than ICLabel for pediatric data. These results indicate that optimizing existing algorithms improves artifact classification and retains more trials, potentially facilitating EEG studies with pediatric populations. Adjusted-ADJUST is freely available under the terms of the GNU General Public License at: https://github.com/ChildDevLab/MADE-EEG-preprocessing-pipeline/tree/master/adjusted_adjust_scripts.

Two systems for thinking about others' thoughts in the developing brain

The ability to reason about other people’s thoughts and beliefs characterizes the complex social interaction among humans. This ability, called Theory of Mind (ToM), has long been argued to develop around 4 y when children start explicitly reasoning about others' beliefs. However, when tested nonverbally, infants already show action expectations congruent with others’ beliefs before the age of 2 y. Do these behaviors reflect different systems for understanding others’ minds—an early and a later developing one—or when does ToM develop? We show that these abilities are supported by the maturation of independent brain networks, suggesting different systems for explicit verbal ToM and early nonverbal action expectations.

Human social interaction crucially relies on the ability to infer what other people think. Referred to as Theory of Mind (ToM), this ability has long been argued to emerge around 4 y of age when children start passing traditional verbal ToM tasks. This developmental dogma has recently been questioned by nonverbal ToM tasks passed by infants younger than 2 y of age. How do young children solve these tests, and what is their relation to the later-developing verbal ToM reasoning? Are there two different systems for nonverbal and verbal ToM, and when is the developmental onset of mature adult ToM? To address these questions, we related markers of cortical brain structure (i.e., cortical thickness and surface area) of 3- and 4-y-old children to their performance in novel nonverbal and traditional verbal TM tasks. We showed that verbal ToM reasoning was supported by cortical surface area and thickness of the precuneus and temporoparietal junction, classically involved in ToM in adults. Nonverbal ToM reasoning, in contrast, was supported by the cortical structure of a distinct and independent neural network including the supramarginal gyrus also involved in emotional and visual perspective taking, action observation, and social attention or encoding biases. This neural dissociation suggests two systems for reasoning about others’ minds—mature verbal ToM that emerges around 4 y of age, whereas nonverbal ToM tasks rely on different earlier-developing possibly social-cognitive processes.

A Neuroimaging Study of Personality Traits and Self-Reflection

This study examines the blood-oxygen level dependent (BOLD) activation of the brain associated with the four distinctive thinking styles associated with the four personality orientations of the Gountas Personality Orientations (GPO) survey: Emotion/Feeling-Action, Material/Pragmatic, Intuitive/Imaginative, and Thinking/Logical. The theoretical postulation is that each of the four personality orientations has a dominant (primary) thinking style and a shadow (secondary) thinking style/trait. The participants (N = 40) were initially surveyed to determine their dominant (primary) and secondary thinking styles. Based on participant responses, equal numbers of each dominant thinking style were selected for neuroimaging using a unique fMRI cognitive activation paradigm. The neuroimaging data support the general theoretical hypothesis of the existence of four different BOLD activation patterns, associated with each of the four thinking styles. The fMRI data analysis suggests that each thinking style may have its own cognitive activation system, involving the frontal ventromedial, posterior medial, parietal, motor, and orbitofrontal cortex. The data also suggest that there is a left hemisphere relationship for the Material/Pragmatic and Thinking/Logical styles and a right activation relationship for Emotional/Feeling and Intuitive/Imaginative styles. Additionally, the unique self-reflection paradigm demonstrated that perception of self or self-image, may be influenced by personality type; a finding of potentially far-reaching implications.