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Vannuscorps G. When does imagery require motor resources? A commentary on Bach et al., 2022. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2024; 88:1817-1819. [PMID: 38214776 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-023-01917-6] [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: 06/09/2023] [Accepted: 12/14/2023] [Indexed: 01/13/2024]
Abstract
Bach, Frank, and Kunde introduce a hypothesis that encompasses two main claims: (1) motor imagery relies primarily on representations of the perceptual effects of actions, and (2) the engagement of motor resources provides access to the specific timing, kinematic or internal bodily state that characterize an action. In this commentary, I argue that the first claim is compelling and suggest some alternatives to the second one.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gilles Vannuscorps
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Place Cardinal Mercier 10, 1348, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium.
- Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium.
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2
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Grisoni L, Piperno G, Moreau Q, Molinari M, Scivoletto G, Aglioti SM. Predicting and coding sound into action translation in spinal cord injured people. Eur J Neurosci 2024; 59:1029-1046. [PMID: 38276915 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16258] [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: 07/10/2023] [Revised: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 01/04/2024] [Indexed: 01/27/2024]
Abstract
Motor activation in response to perception of action-related stimuli may depend on a resonance mechanism subserving action understanding. The extent to which this mechanism is innate or learned from sensorimotor experience is still unclear. Here, we recorded EEG while people with paraplegia or tetraplegia consequent to spinal cord injury (SCI) and healthy control participants were presented with action sounds produced by body parts (mouth, hands or feet) that were or were not affected by SCI. Non-action sounds were used as further control. We observed reduced brain activation in subjects affected by SCI at both pre- and post-stimulus latencies specifically for those actions whose effector was disconnected by the spinal lesion (i.e., hand sound for tetraplegia and leg sound for both paraplegia and tetraplegia). Correlation analyses showed that these modulations were functionally linked with the chronicity of the lesion, indicating that the longer the time the lesion- EEG data acquisition interval and/or the more the lesion occurred at a young age, the weaker was the cortical activity in response to these action sounds. Tellingly, source estimations confirmed that these modulations originated from a deficit in the motor resonance mechanism, by showing diminished activity in premotor (during prediction and perception) and near the primary motor (during perception) areas. Such dissociation along the cortical hierarchy is consistent with both previous reports in healthy subjects and with hierarchical predictive coding accounts. Overall, these data expand on the notion that sensorimotor experience maintains the cortical representations relevant to anticipate and perceive action-related stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luigi Grisoni
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome and CLN2S@sapienza, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia IIT, Rome, Italy
- Department of Philosophy and Humanities, Brain Language Laboratory, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Giulio Piperno
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome and CLN2S@sapienza, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia IIT, Rome, Italy
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Quentin Moreau
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome and CLN2S@sapienza, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia IIT, Rome, Italy
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | | | | | - Salvatore Maria Aglioti
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome and CLN2S@sapienza, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia IIT, Rome, Italy
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
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3
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Atypical influence of biomechanical knowledge in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome-towards a different perspective on body representation. Sci Rep 2023; 13:520. [PMID: 36627332 PMCID: PMC9832000 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-27733-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2022] [Accepted: 01/06/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Part of the multifaceted pathophysiology of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is ascribed to lateralized maladaptive neuroplasticity in sensorimotor cortices, corroborated by behavioral studies indicating that patients present difficulties in mentally representing their painful limb. Such difficulties are widely measured with hand laterality judgment tasks (HLT), which are also used in the rehabilitation of CRPS to activate motor imagery and restore the cortical representation of the painful limb. The potential of these tasks to elicit motor imagery is critical to their use in therapy, yet, the influence of the body's biomechanical constraints (BMC) on HLT reaction time, supposed to index motor imagery activation, is rarely verified. Here we investigated the influence of BMC on the perception of hand postures and movements in upper-limb CRPS. Patients were slower than controls in judging hand laterality, whether or not stimuli corresponded to their painful hand. Reaction time patterns reflecting BMC were mostly absent in CRPS and controls. A second experiment therefore directly investigated the influence of implicit knowledge of BMC on hand movement judgments. Participants judged the perceived path of movement between two depicted hand positions, with only one of two proposed paths that was biomechanically plausible. While the controls mostly chose the biomechanically plausible path, patients did not. These findings show non-lateralized body representation impairments in CRPS, possibly related to difficulties in using correct knowledge of the body's biomechanics. Importantly, they demonstrate the challenge of reliably measuring motor imagery with the HLT, which has important implications for the rehabilitation with these tasks.
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Lustenhouwer R, Cameron IGM, Wolfs E, van Alfen N, Toni I, Geurts ACH, van Engelen BGM, Groothuis JT, Helmich RC. OUP accepted manuscript. Brain Commun 2022; 4:fcac034. [PMID: 35233524 PMCID: PMC8882006 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcac034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2021] [Revised: 12/03/2021] [Accepted: 02/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Neuralgic amyotrophy is a common peripheral nerve disorder caused by autoimmune inflammation of the brachial plexus, clinically characterized by acute pain and weakness of the shoulder muscles, followed by motor impairment. Despite recovery of the peripheral nerves, patients often have residual motor dysfunction of the upper extremity, leading to persistent pain related to altered biomechanics of the shoulder region. Building on clinical signs that suggest a role for cerebral mechanisms in these residual complaints, here we show and characterize cerebral alterations following neuralgic amyotrophy. Neuralgic amyotrophy patients often develop alternative motor strategies, which suggests that (mal)adaptations may occur in somatomotor and/or visuomotor brain areas. Here, we tested where changes in cerebral sensorimotor representations occur in neuralgic amyotrophy, while controlling for altered motor execution due to peripheral neuropathy. We additionally explore the relation between potential cerebral alterations in neuralgic amyotrophy and clinical symptoms. During functional MRI scanning, 39 neuralgic amyotrophy patients with persistent, lateralized symptoms in the right upper extremity and 23 matched healthy participants solved a hand laterality judgement task that can activate sensorimotor representations of the upper extremity, across somatomotor and visuomotor brain areas. Behavioural and cerebral responses confirmed the involvement of embodied, sensorimotor processes across groups. Compared with healthy participants, neuralgic amyotrophy patients were slower in hand laterality judgement and had decreased cerebral activity specific to their affected limb in two higher-order visual brain regions: the right extrastriate cortex and the parieto-occipital sulcus. Exploratory analyses revealed that across patients, extrastriate activity specific to the affected limb decreased as persistent pain increased, and affected limb-related parieto-occipital activity decreased as imagery performance of the affected limb became slower. These findings suggest that maladaptive cerebral plasticity in visuomotor areas involved in sensorimotor integration plays a role in residual motor dysfunction and subsequent persistent pain in neuralgic amyotrophy. Rehabilitation interventions that apply visuomotor strategies to improve sensorimotor integration may help to treat neuralgic amyotrophy patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renee Lustenhouwer
- Department of Rehabilitation, Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Ian G. M. Cameron
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Donders Centre for Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Twente, PO BOX 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands
| | - Elze Wolfs
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 1, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Nens van Alfen
- Department of Neurology, Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Ivan Toni
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Alexander C. H. Geurts
- Department of Rehabilitation, Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Baziel G. M. van Engelen
- Department of Neurology, Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Jan T. Groothuis
- Department of Rehabilitation, Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Rick C. Helmich
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Neurology, Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Correspondence to: Rick Helmich Department of Neurology, Radboud University Medical Center PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands E-mail:
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Saetta G, Ho JT, Bekrater-Bodmann R, Brugger P, Dijkerman CH, Lenggenhager B. Limb apparent motion perception: Modification by tDCS, and clinically or experimentally altered bodily states. Neuropsychologia 2021; 162:108032. [PMID: 34600001 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.108032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2021] [Revised: 08/26/2021] [Accepted: 09/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Limb apparent motion perception (LAMP) refers to the illusory visual perception of a moving limb upon observing two rapidly alternating photographs depicting the same limb in two different postures. Fast stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) induce the more visually guided perception of physically impossible movements. Slow SOAs induce the perception of physically possible movements. According to the motor theory of LAMP, the latter perception depends upon the observer's sensorimotor representations. Here, we tested this theory in two independent studies by performing a central (study 1) and peripheral (study 2) manipulation of the body's sensorimotor states during two LAMP tasks. In the first sham-controlled transcranial direct current stimulation between-subject designed study, we observed that the dampening of left sensorimotor cortex activity through cathodal stimulation biased LAMP towards the more visually guided perception of physically impossible movements for stimulus pairs at slow SOAs. In the second, online within-subject designed study, we tested three participant groups twice: (1) individuals with an acquired lower limb amputation, either while wearing or not wearing their prosthesis (2) individuals with body integrity dysphoria (i.e., with a desire for amputation of a healthy leg) while sitting in a regular position or binding up the undesired leg (to simulate the desired amputation); (3) able-bodied individuals while sitting in a normal position or sitting on one of their legs. We found that the momentary sensorimotor state crucially impacted LAMP in individuals with an amputation and able-bodied participants, but not in BID individuals. Taken together, the results of these two studies substantiate the motor theory of LAMP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gianluca Saetta
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Department of Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, the Netherlands.
| | - Jasmine T Ho
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Robin Bekrater-Bodmann
- Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Peter Brugger
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital of Psychiatry (PUK), Zurich, Switzerland; Neuropsychology Unit, Valens Rehabilitation Centre, Valens, Switzerland
| | - Chris H Dijkerman
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, the Netherlands
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Vannuscorps G, Andres M, Carneiro SP, Rombaux E, Caramazza A. Typically Efficient Lipreading without Motor Simulation. J Cogn Neurosci 2021; 33:611-621. [PMID: 33416443 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
All it takes is a face-to-face conversation in a noisy environment to realize that viewing a speaker's lip movements contributes to speech comprehension. What are the processes underlying the perception and interpretation of visual speech? Brain areas that control speech production are also recruited during lipreading. This finding raises the possibility that lipreading may be supported, at least to some extent, by a covert unconscious imitation of the observed speech movements in the observer's own speech motor system-a motor simulation. However, whether, and if so to what extent, motor simulation contributes to visual speech interpretation remains unclear. In two experiments, we found that several participants with congenital facial paralysis were as good at lipreading as the control population and performed these tasks in a way that is qualitatively similar to the controls despite severely reduced or even completely absent lip motor representations. Although it remains an open question whether this conclusion generalizes to other experimental conditions and to typically developed participants, these findings considerably narrow the space of hypothesis for a role of motor simulation in lipreading. Beyond its theoretical significance in the field of speech perception, this finding also calls for a re-examination of the more general hypothesis that motor simulation underlies action perception and interpretation developed in the frameworks of motor simulation and mirror neuron hypotheses.
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Vannuscorps G, Andres M, Caramazza A. Efficient recognition of facial expressions does not require motor simulation. eLife 2020; 9:54687. [PMID: 32364498 PMCID: PMC7217693 DOI: 10.7554/elife.54687] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2019] [Accepted: 05/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
What mechanisms underlie facial expression recognition? A popular hypothesis holds that efficient facial expression recognition cannot be achieved by visual analysis alone but additionally requires a mechanism of motor simulation — an unconscious, covert imitation of the observed facial postures and movements. Here, we first discuss why this hypothesis does not necessarily follow from extant empirical evidence. Next, we report experimental evidence against the central premise of this view: we demonstrate that individuals can achieve normotypical efficient facial expression recognition despite a congenital absence of relevant facial motor representations and, therefore, unaided by motor simulation. This underscores the need to reconsider the role of motor simulation in facial expression recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gilles Vannuscorps
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States.,Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain, Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.,Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Michael Andres
- Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain, Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.,Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Alfonso Caramazza
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States.,Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, Università degli Studi di Trento, Mattarello, Italy
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Lustenhouwer R, Cameron IGM, van Alfen N, Oorsprong TD, Toni I, van Engelen BGM, Groothuis JT, Helmich RC. Altered sensorimotor representations after recovery from peripheral nerve damage in neuralgic amyotrophy. Cortex 2020; 127:180-190. [PMID: 32203744 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.02.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2019] [Revised: 11/15/2019] [Accepted: 02/06/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Neuralgic amyotrophy is a common peripheral nerve disorder caused by acute autoimmune inflammation of the brachial plexus. Subsequent weakness of the stabilizing shoulder muscles leads to compensatory strategies and abnormal motor control of the shoulder. Despite recovery of peripheral nerves and muscle strength over time, motor dysfunction often persists. Suboptimal motor recovery has been linked to maladaptive changes in the central motor system in several nervous system disorders. We therefore hypothesized that neuralgic amyotrophy patients with persistent motor dysfunction may have altered cerebral sensorimotor representations of the affected upper limb. To test this hypothesis, 21 neuralgic amyotrophy patients (mean age 45 ± 12 years, 5 female) with persistent lateralized symptoms in the right upper limb and 20 age- and sex-matched healthy controls, all right-handed, performed a hand laterality judgement task in a cross-sectional comparison. Previous evidence has shown that to solve this task, subjects rely on sensorimotor representations of their own upper limb, using a first-person imagery perspective without actual motor execution. This enabled us to investigate altered central sensorimotor representations while controlling for altered motor output and altered somatosensory afference. We found that neuralgic amyotrophy patients were specifically less accurate for laterality judgments of their affected right limb, as compared to healthy controls. There were no significant group differences in reaction times. Both groups used a first-person imagery perspective, as evidenced by changes in reaction times as a function of participants' own arm posture. We conclude that cerebral sensorimotor representations of the affected upper limb are altered in neuralgic amyotrophy patients. This suggests that maladaptive central neuroplasticity may occur in response to peripheral nerve damage, thereby contributing to motor dysfunction. Therapies focused on altering cerebral sensorimotor representations may help to treat peripheral nerve disorders such as neuralgic amyotrophy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renee Lustenhouwer
- Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Center for Medical Neuroscience, Department of Rehabilitation, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
| | - Ian G M Cameron
- Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
| | - Nens van Alfen
- Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Center for Medical Neuroscience, Department of Neurology, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
| | - Talitha D Oorsprong
- Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Center for Medical Neuroscience, Department of Rehabilitation, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
| | - Ivan Toni
- Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
| | - Baziel G M van Engelen
- Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Center for Medical Neuroscience, Department of Neurology, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
| | - Jan T Groothuis
- Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Center for Medical Neuroscience, Department of Rehabilitation, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
| | - Rick C Helmich
- Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Center for Medical Neuroscience, Department of Neurology, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
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Rezlescu C, Danaila I, Miron A, Amariei C. More time for science: Using Testable to create and share behavioral experiments faster, recruit better participants, and engage students in hands-on research. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2020; 253:243-262. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2020.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
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Vannuscorps G, F Wurm M, Striem-Amit E, Caramazza A. Large-Scale Organization of the Hand Action Observation Network in Individuals Born Without Hands. Cereb Cortex 2018; 29:3434-3444. [DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhy212] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2018] [Revised: 07/12/2018] [Accepted: 08/08/2018] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Abstract
The human high-level visual cortex comprises regions specialized for the processing of distinct types of stimuli, such as objects, animals, and human actions. How does this specialization emerge? Here, we investigated the role of effector-specific visuomotor coupling experience in shaping the organization of the action observation network (AON) as a window on this question. Observed body movements are frequently coupled with corresponding motor codes, e.g., during monitoring one’s own movements and imitation, resulting in bidirectionally connected circuits between areas involved in body movements observation (e.g., of the hand) and the motor codes involved in their execution. If the organization of the AON is shaped by this effector-specific visuomotor coupling, then, it should not form for body movements that do not belong to individuals’ motor repertoire. To test this prediction, we used fMRI to investigate the spatial arrangement and functional properties of the hand and foot action observation circuits in individuals born without upper limbs. Multivoxel pattern decoding, pattern similarity, and univariate analyses revealed an intact hand AON in the individuals born without upper limbs. This suggests that the organization of the AON does not require effector-specific visuomotor coupling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gilles Vannuscorps
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), Università degli Studi di Trento, Rovereto, Italy
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Psychological Sciences Research Institute and Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Moritz F Wurm
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), Università degli Studi di Trento, Rovereto, Italy
| | - Ella Striem-Amit
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Alfonso Caramazza
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), Università degli Studi di Trento, Rovereto, Italy
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Apparent motion perception in lower limb amputees with phantom sensations: “obstacle shunning” and “obstacle tolerance”. Cortex 2018; 104:220-231. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2018.03.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2017] [Revised: 05/18/2017] [Accepted: 03/08/2018] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
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12
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Geers L, Pesenti M, Andres M. Visual illusions modify object size estimates for prospective action judgements. Neuropsychologia 2018; 117:211-221. [PMID: 29883576 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2018] [Revised: 05/16/2018] [Accepted: 06/04/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
How does the eye guide the hand in an ever-changing world? The perception-action model posits that visually-guided actions rely on object size estimates that are computed from an egocentric perspective independently of the visual context. Accordingly, adjusting grip aperture to object size should be resistant to illusions emerging from the contrast between a target and surrounding elements. However, experimental studies gave discrepant results that have remained difficult to explain so far. Visual and proprioceptive information of the acting hand are potential sources of ambiguity in previous studies because the on-line corrections they allow may contribute to masking the illusory effect. To overcome this problem, we investigated the effect on prospective action judgements of the Ebbinghaus illusion, a visual illusion in which the perceived size of a central circle varies according to the size of surrounding circles. Participants had to decide whether they thought they would be able to grasp the central circle of an Ebbinghaus display between their index finger and thumb, without moving their hands. A control group had to judge the size of the central circle relative to a standard. Experiment 1 showed that the illusion affected perceptual and grasping judgements similarly. We further investigated the interaction between visual illusions and grip aperture representation by examining the effect of concurrent motor tasks on grasping judgements. We showed that participants underestimated their ability to grasp the circle when they were squeezing a ball between their index finger and thumb (Experiment 2), whereas they overestimated their ability when their fingers were spread apart (Experiment 3). The illusion also affected the grasping judgement task and modulated the interference of the squeezing movement, with the illusion of largeness enhancing the underestimation of one's grasping ability observed in Experiment 2. We conclude that visual context and body posture both influence action anticipation, and that perception and action support each other.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurie Geers
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Place Cardinal Mercier 10, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
| | - Mauro Pesenti
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Place Cardinal Mercier 10, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Mounier 53, Brussels, Belgium.
| | - Michael Andres
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Place Cardinal Mercier 10, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Mounier 53, Brussels, Belgium.
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13
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Vannuscorps G, Caramazza A. Impaired short-term memory for hand postures in individuals born without hands. Cortex 2016; 83:136-8. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2016.07.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2016] [Revised: 07/11/2016] [Accepted: 07/18/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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