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Vescovo E, Cardellicchio P, Tomassini A, Fadiga L, D'Ausilio A. Excitatory/inhibitory motor balance reflects individual differences during joint action coordination. Eur J Neurosci 2024; 59:3403-3421. [PMID: 38666628 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16365] [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: 11/03/2023] [Revised: 03/07/2024] [Accepted: 04/06/2024] [Indexed: 06/15/2024]
Abstract
Joint action (JA) is a continuous process of motor co-regulation based on the integration of contextual (top-down) and kinematic (bottom-up) cues from partners. The fine equilibrium between excitation and inhibition in sensorimotor circuits is, thus, central to such a dynamic process of action selection and execution. In a bimanual task adapted to become a unimanual JA task, the participant held a bottle (JA), while a confederate had to reach and unscrew either that bottle or another stabilized by a mechanical clamp (No_JA). Prior knowledge was manipulated in each trial such that the participant knew (K) or not (No_K) the target bottle in advance. Online transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was administered at action-relevant landmarks to explore corticospinal excitability (CSE) and inhibition (cortical silent period [cSP]). CSE was modulated early on before the action started if prior information was available. In contrast, cSP modulation emerged later during the reaching action, regardless of prior information. These two indexes could thus reflect the concurrent elaboration of contextual priors (top-down) and the online sampling of partner's kinematic cues (bottom-up). Furthermore, participants selected either one of two possible behavioural strategies, preferring early or late force exertion on the bottle. One translates into a reduced risk of motor coordination failure and the other into reduced metabolic expenditure. Each strategy was characterised by a specific excitatory/inhibitory profile. In conclusion, the study of excitatory/inhibitory balance paves the way for the neurophysiological determination of individual differences in the combination of top-down and bottom-up processing during JA coordination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Enrico Vescovo
- Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Ferrara, Italy
- Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, Section of Physiology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Pasquale Cardellicchio
- Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, Section of Physiology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
- Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Unit, IRCCS Istituto Giannina Gaslini, Genoa, Italy
| | - Alice Tomassini
- Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Luciano Fadiga
- Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Ferrara, Italy
- Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, Section of Physiology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Alessandro D'Ausilio
- Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Ferrara, Italy
- Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, Section of Physiology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
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2
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Scalona E, De Marco D, Ferrari L, Creatini I, Taglione E, Andreoni G, Fabbri-Destro M, Avanzini P, Lopomo NF. Identification of movement phenotypes from occupational gesture kinematics: Advancing individual ergonomic exposure classification and personalized training. APPLIED ERGONOMICS 2024; 115:104182. [PMID: 38000137 DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2023.104182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2023] [Revised: 11/10/2023] [Accepted: 11/15/2023] [Indexed: 11/26/2023]
Abstract
The identification of personalized preventive strategies plays a major role in contrasting the occurrence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders. This requires the identification of distinct movement patterns within large samples and the attribution of a proper risk level to each identified movement phenotype. We assessed the feasibility of this approach by exploiting wearable inertial measurement units to estimate the whole-body kinematics of 43 healthy participants performing 18 reach-to-manipulate movements, which differed based on the object's position in the space and the type of manipulation required. Through unsupervised clustering, we identified multiple movement phenotypes graded by ergonomic performance. Furthermore, we determined which joints mostly contributed to instantiating the ergonomic differences across clusters, emphasizing the importance of monitoring this aspect during occupational gestures. Overall, our analysis suggests that movement phenotypes can be identified within occupational motor repertoires. Assigning individual performance to specific phenotypes has the potential to inform the development of more effective and tailored interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emilia Scalona
- Dipartimento di Scienze Medico Chirurgiche, Scienza Radiologiche e Sanità Pubblica (DSMC), Università Degli Studi di Brescia, Viale Europa 11, 25123, Brescia, Italy.
| | - Doriana De Marco
- Dipartimento di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università Degli Studi di Parma, Parma, Italy
| | - Laura Ferrari
- Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche, Istituto di Neuroscienze, Parma, Italy; School of Advanced Studies, Università di Camerino, Camerino, Italy
| | | | - Elisa Taglione
- Centro di Riabilitazione Motoria, INAIL, Volterra, Italy
| | | | | | - Pietro Avanzini
- Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche, Istituto di Neuroscienze, Parma, Italy
| | - Nicola Francesco Lopomo
- Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche, Istituto di Neuroscienze, Parma, Italy; Dipartimento di Ingegneria Dell'Informazione, Università Degli Studi di Brescia, Brescia, Italy
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3
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Emanuele M, D'Ausilio A, Koch G, Fadiga L, Tomassini A. Scale-invariant changes in corticospinal excitability reflect multiplexed oscillations in the motor output. J Physiol 2024; 602:205-222. [PMID: 38059677 DOI: 10.1113/jp284273] [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: 12/16/2022] [Accepted: 11/22/2023] [Indexed: 12/08/2023] Open
Abstract
In the absence of disease, humans produce smooth and accurate movement trajectories. Despite such 'macroscopic' aspect, the 'microscopic' structure of movements reveals recurrent (quasi-rhythmic) discontinuities. To date, it is unclear how the sensorimotor system contributes to the macroscopic and microscopic architecture of movement. Here, we investigated how corticospinal excitability changes in relation to microscopic fluctuations that are naturally embedded within larger macroscopic variations in motor output. Participants performed a visuomotor tracking task. In addition to the 0.25 Hz modulation that is required for task fulfilment (macroscopic scale), the motor output shows tiny but systematic fluctuations at ∼2 and 8 Hz (microscopic scales). We show that motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) during task performance are consistently modulated at all (time) scales. Surprisingly, MEP modulation covers a similar range at both micro- and macroscopic scales, even though the motor output differs by several orders of magnitude. Thus, corticospinal excitability finely maps the multiscale temporal patterning of the motor output, but it does so according to a principle of scale invariance. These results suggest that corticospinal excitability indexes a relatively abstract level of movement encoding that may reflect the hierarchical organisation of sensorimotor processes. KEY POINTS: Motor behaviour is organised on multiple (time)scales. Small but systematic ('microscopic') fluctuations are engrained in larger and slower ('macroscopic') variations in motor output, which are instrumental in deploying the desired motor plan. Corticospinal excitability is modulated in relation to motor fluctuations on both macroscopic and microscopic (time)scales. Corticospinal excitability obeys a principle of scale invariance, that is, it is modulated similarly at all (time)scales, possibly reflecting hierarchical mechanisms that optimise motor encoding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Emanuele
- Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, Section of Physiology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
- Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Ferrara, Italy
- Department of Computer Science, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Alessandro D'Ausilio
- Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, Section of Physiology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
- Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Giacomo Koch
- Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, Section of Physiology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
- IRCSS Santa Lucia, Roma, Italy
| | - Luciano Fadiga
- Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, Section of Physiology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
- Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Alice Tomassini
- Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Ferrara, Italy
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4
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D'Ausilio A, Tomassini A. Studying the hierarchy of actions from motor primitives: Comment on "An active inference model of hierarchical action understanding, learning and imitation". Phys Life Rev 2023; 47:63-65. [PMID: 37708816 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2023.08.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2023] [Accepted: 08/30/2023] [Indexed: 09/16/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- A D'Ausilio
- IIT@UniFe Center for Translational Neurophysiology, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Ferrara, Italy; Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, Section of Physiology, Università di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
| | - A Tomassini
- Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, Section of Physiology, Università di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
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5
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Torricelli F, Tomassini A, Pezzulo G, Pozzo T, Fadiga L, D'Ausilio A. Motor invariants in action execution and perception. Phys Life Rev 2023; 44:13-47. [PMID: 36462345 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2022.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2022] [Accepted: 11/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
The nervous system is sensitive to statistical regularities of the external world and forms internal models of these regularities to predict environmental dynamics. Given the inherently social nature of human behavior, being capable of building reliable predictive models of others' actions may be essential for successful interaction. While social prediction might seem to be a daunting task, the study of human motor control has accumulated ample evidence that our movements follow a series of kinematic invariants, which can be used by observers to reduce their uncertainty during social exchanges. Here, we provide an overview of the most salient regularities that shape biological motion, examine the role of these invariants in recognizing others' actions, and speculate that anchoring socially-relevant perceptual decisions to such kinematic invariants provides a key computational advantage for inferring conspecifics' goals and intentions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Torricelli
- Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, University of Ferrara, Via Fossato di Mortara, 17-19, 44121 Ferrara, Italy; Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication, Italian Institute of Technology, Via Fossato di Mortara, 17-19, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
| | - Alice Tomassini
- Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication, Italian Institute of Technology, Via Fossato di Mortara, 17-19, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
| | - Giovanni Pezzulo
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Via San Martino della Battaglia 44, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Thierry Pozzo
- Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication, Italian Institute of Technology, Via Fossato di Mortara, 17-19, 44121 Ferrara, Italy; INSERM UMR1093-CAPS, UFR des Sciences du Sport, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, F-21000, Dijon, France
| | - Luciano Fadiga
- Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, University of Ferrara, Via Fossato di Mortara, 17-19, 44121 Ferrara, Italy; Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication, Italian Institute of Technology, Via Fossato di Mortara, 17-19, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
| | - Alessandro D'Ausilio
- Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, University of Ferrara, Via Fossato di Mortara, 17-19, 44121 Ferrara, Italy; Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication, Italian Institute of Technology, Via Fossato di Mortara, 17-19, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
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Decroix J, Rossetti Y, Quesque F. Les neurones miroirs, hommes à tout faire des neurosciences : analyse critique des limites méthodologiques et théoriques. ANNEE PSYCHOLOGIQUE 2022. [DOI: 10.3917/anpsy1.221.0085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
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7
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Campbell MEJ, Nguyen VT, Cunnington R, Breakspear M. Insula cortex gates the interplay of action observation and preparation for controlled imitation. Neuropsychologia 2021; 161:108021. [PMID: 34517009 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.108021] [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: 05/12/2021] [Revised: 07/20/2021] [Accepted: 09/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Perceiving, anticipating and responding to the actions of another person are fundamentally entwined processes such that seeing another's movement can prompt automatic imitation, as in social mimicry and contagious yawning. Yet the direct-matching of others' movements is not always appropriate, so this tendency must be controlled. This necessitates the hierarchical integration of the systems for action mirroring with domain-general control networks. Here we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and computational modelling to examine the top-down and context-dependent modulation of mirror representations and their influence on motor planning. Participants performed actions that either intentionally or incidentally imitated, or counter-imitated, an observed action. Analyses of these fMRI data revealed a region in the mid-occipital gyrus (MOG) where activity differed between imitation versus counter-imitation in a manner that depended on whether this was intentional or incidental. To identify broader cortical network mechanisms underlying this interaction between intention and imitativeness, we used dynamic causal modelling to pose specific hypotheses which embody assumptions about inter-areal interactions and contextual modulations. These models each incorporated four regions - medial temporal V5 (early motion perception), MOG (action-observation), supplementary motor area (action planning), and anterior insula (executive control) - but differ in their interactions and hierarchical structure. The best model of our data afforded a crucial role for the anterior insula, gating the interaction of supplementary motor area and MOG activity. This provides a novel brain network-based account of task-dependent control over the integration of motor planning and mirror systems, with mirror responses suppressed for intentional counter-imitation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Vinh T Nguyen
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Australia
| | - Ross Cunnington
- Department of Psychology, University of Queensland, Australia
| | - Michael Breakspear
- School of Psychology, University of Newcastle, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia
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8
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Emerging of new bioartificial corticospinal motor synergies using a robotic additional thumb. Sci Rep 2021; 11:18487. [PMID: 34531441 PMCID: PMC8445932 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-97876-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2021] [Accepted: 08/31/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
It is likely that when using an artificially augmented hand with six fingers, the natural five plus a robotic one, corticospinal motor synergies controlling grasping actions might be different. However, no direct neurophysiological evidence for this reasonable assumption is available yet. We used transcranial magnetic stimulation of the primary motor cortex to directly address this issue during motor imagery of objects’ grasping actions performed with or without the Soft Sixth Finger (SSF). The SSF is a wearable robotic additional thumb patented for helping patients with hand paresis and inherent loss of thumb opposition abilities. To this aim, we capitalized from the solid notion that neural circuits and mechanisms underlying motor imagery overlap those of physiological voluntary actions. After a few minutes of training, healthy humans wearing the SSF rapidly reshaped the pattern of corticospinal outputs towards forearm and hand muscles governing imagined grasping actions of different objects, suggesting the possibility that the extra finger might rapidly be encoded into the user’s body schema, which is integral part of the frontal-parietal grasping network. Such neural signatures might explain how the motor system of human beings is open to very quickly welcoming emerging augmentative bioartificial corticospinal grasping strategies. Such an ability might represent the functional substrate of a final common pathway the brain might count on towards new interactions with the surrounding objects within the peripersonal space. Findings provide a neurophysiological framework for implementing augmentative robotic tools in humans and for the exploitation of the SSF in conceptually new rehabilitation settings.
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9
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Kemmerer D. What modulates the Mirror Neuron System during action observation?: Multiple factors involving the action, the actor, the observer, the relationship between actor and observer, and the context. Prog Neurobiol 2021; 205:102128. [PMID: 34343630 DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2021.102128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2021] [Revised: 06/23/2021] [Accepted: 07/29/2021] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Seeing an agent perform an action typically triggers a motor simulation of that action in the observer's Mirror Neuron System (MNS). Over the past few years, it has become increasingly clear that during action observation the patterns and strengths of responses in the MNS are modulated by multiple factors. The first aim of this paper is therefore to provide the most comprehensive survey to date of these factors. To that end, 22 distinct factors are described, broken down into the following sets: six involving the action; two involving the actor; nine involving the observer; four involving the relationship between actor and observer; and one involving the context. The second aim is to consider the implications of these findings for four prominent theoretical models of the MNS: the Direct Matching Model; the Predictive Coding Model; the Value-Driven Model; and the Associative Model. These assessments suggest that although each model is supported by a wide range of findings, each one is also challenged by other findings and relatively unaffected by still others. Hence, there is now a pressing need for a richer, more inclusive model that is better able to account for all of the modulatory factors that have been identified so far.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Kemmerer
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Lyles-Porter Hall, Purdue University, 715 Clinic Drive, United States.
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10
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Cardellicchio P, Dolfini E, Fadiga L, D'Ausilio A. Parallel fast and slow motor inhibition processes in Joint Action coordination. Cortex 2020; 133:346-357. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.09.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2020] [Revised: 07/22/2020] [Accepted: 09/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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11
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Hilt PM, Cardellicchio P, Dolfini E, Pozzo T, Fadiga L, D’Ausilio A. Motor Recruitment during Action Observation: Effect of Interindividual Differences in Action Strategy. Cereb Cortex 2020; 30:3910-3920. [PMID: 32043124 PMCID: PMC7264692 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2019] [Revised: 11/04/2019] [Accepted: 01/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Visual processing of other's actions is supported by sensorimotor brain activations. Access to sensorimotor representations may, in principle, provide the top-down signal required to bias search and selection of critical visual features. For this to happen, it is necessary that a stable one-to-one mapping exists between observed kinematics and underlying motor commands. However, due to the inherent redundancy of the human musculoskeletal system, this is hardly the case for multijoint actions where everyone has his own moving style (individual motor signature-IMS). Here, we investigated the influence of subject's IMS on subjects' motor excitability during the observation of an actor achieving the same goal by adopting two different IMSs. Despite a clear dissociation in kinematic and electromyographic patterns between the two actions, we found no group-level modulation of corticospinal excitability (CSE) in observers. Rather, we found a negative relationship between CSE and actor-observer IMS distance, already at the single-subject level. Thus, sensorimotor activity during action observation does not slavishly replicate the motor plan implemented by the actor, but rather reflects the distance between what is canonical according to one's own motor template and the observed movements performed by other individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- P M Hilt
- IIT@UniFe Center for Translational Neurophysiology, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 44121, Ferrara, Italy
| | - P Cardellicchio
- IIT@UniFe Center for Translational Neurophysiology, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 44121, Ferrara, Italy
| | - E Dolfini
- IIT@UniFe Center for Translational Neurophysiology, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 44121, Ferrara, Italy
| | - T Pozzo
- IIT@UniFe Center for Translational Neurophysiology, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 44121, Ferrara, Italy
- INSERMU1093, Universite de Bourgogne Franche-Comte, 21000, Dijon, France
| | - L Fadiga
- IIT@UniFe Center for Translational Neurophysiology, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 44121, Ferrara, Italy
- Section of Human Physiology, Università di Ferrara, 44121, Ferrara, Italy
| | - A D’Ausilio
- IIT@UniFe Center for Translational Neurophysiology, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 44121, Ferrara, Italy
- Section of Human Physiology, Università di Ferrara, 44121, Ferrara, Italy
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12
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Motor cortical inhibition during concurrent action execution and action observation. Neuroimage 2020; 208:116445. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116445] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2019] [Revised: 11/12/2019] [Accepted: 12/05/2019] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
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13
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Amoruso L, Finisguerra A. Low or High-Level Motor Coding? The Role of Stimulus Complexity. Front Hum Neurosci 2019; 13:332. [PMID: 31680900 PMCID: PMC6798151 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2019.00332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2019] [Accepted: 09/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies have shown that observing an action induces activity in the onlooker's motor system. In light of the muscle specificity and time-locked mirroring nature of the effect, this motor resonance has been traditionally viewed as an inner automatic replica of the observed movement. Notably, studies highlighting this aspect have classically considered movement in isolation (i.e., using non-realistic stimuli such as snapshots of hands detached from background). However, a few recent studies accounting for the role of contextual cues, motivational states, and social factors, have challenged this view by showing that motor resonance is not completely impervious to top-down modulations. A debate is still present. We reasoned that motor resonance reflects the inner replica of the observed movement only when its modulation is assessed during the observation of movements in isolation. Conversely, the presence of top-down modulations of motor resonance emerges when other high-level factors (i.e., contextual cues, past experience, social, and motivational states) are taken into account. Here, we attempt to lay out current TMS studies assessing this issue and discuss the results in terms of their potential to favor the inner replica or the top-down modulation hypothesis. In doing so, we seek to shed light on this actual debate and suggest specific avenues for future research, highlighting the need for a more ecological approach when studying motor resonance phenomenon.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucia Amoruso
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, San Sebastian, Spain.,IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain
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14
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Toma S, Santello M. Motor modules account for active perception of force. Sci Rep 2019; 9:8983. [PMID: 31222076 PMCID: PMC6586614 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-45480-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2018] [Accepted: 06/10/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite longstanding evidence suggesting a relation between action and perception, the mechanisms underlying their integration are still unclear. It has been proposed that to simplify the sensorimotor integration processes underlying active perception, the central nervous system (CNS) selects patterns of movements aimed at maximizing sampling of task-related sensory input. While previous studies investigated the action-perception loop focusing on the role of higher-level features of motor behavior (e.g., kinematic invariants, effort), the present study explored and quantified the contribution of lower-level organization of motor control. We tested the hypothesis that the coordinated recruitment of group of muscles (i.e., motor modules) engaged to counteract an external force contributes to participants’ perception of the same force. We found that: 1) a model describing the modulation of a subset of motor modules involved in the motor task accounted for about 70% of participants’ perceptual variance; 2) an alternative model, incompatible with the motor modules hypothesis, accounted for significantly lower variance of participants’ detection performance. Our results provide empirical evidence of the potential role played by muscle activation patterns in active perception of force. They also suggest that a modular organization of motor control may mediate not only coordination of multiple muscles, but also perceptual inference.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simone Toma
- Laboratory of Neuromotor Physiology, Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, 00179, Italy. .,School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287-9709, USA.
| | - Marco Santello
- School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287-9709, USA
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15
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Schmitz J, Bartoli E, Maffongelli L, Fadiga L, Sebastian-Galles N, D’Ausilio A. Motor cortex compensates for lack of sensory and motor experience during auditory speech perception. Neuropsychologia 2019; 128:290-296. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.01.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2017] [Revised: 12/18/2017] [Accepted: 01/05/2018] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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16
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Gandolfo M, Era V, Tieri G, Sacheli LM, Candidi M. Interactor's body shape does not affect visuo-motor interference effects during motor coordination. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2019; 196:42-50. [PMID: 30986565 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2018] [Revised: 04/01/2019] [Accepted: 04/03/2019] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The biological-tuning of the Action Observation Network is highly debated. A current open question relates to whether the morphological appearance (body shape) and/or the biological motion of the observed agent triggers action simulation processes. Motor simulation of the partner's action is critical for motor interactions, where two partners coordinate their actions in space and time. It supports interpersonal alignment and facilitates online coordination. However, motor simulation also leads to visuo-motor interference effects when people are required to coordinate with complementary actions, i.e. incongruent movements as compared to the observed ones. Movement kinematics of interactive partners allows us to capture their automatic tendency to simulate and imitate the partner's complementary movements. In an online reach-to-grasp task, we investigated whether visuo-motor interference effects, visible in the kinematics of complementary movements, are modulated by the visual presence of the interactor's body shape. We asked participants to interact with 1) a humanoid agent with a human-like body shape and with real human, biological, movement kinematics, or 2) a non-humanoid agent, which did not resemble the human body-shape but moved with the same real kinematics. Through the combination of inferential and Bayesian statistics, the results show no effect of interactor's body shape on visuo-motor interference in reaching and grasping kinematics during online motor coordination. We discuss the results and propose that the kinematics of the observed movements, during motor interactions, might be the key factor for visuo-motor interference to take place independently from the morphological appearance of the partner. This is particularly relevant in a technological society that constantly asks humans to interact with artificial agents.
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Bhatt N, SKM V. Posture similarity index: a method to compare hand postures in synergy space. PeerJ 2018; 6:e6078. [PMID: 30581672 PMCID: PMC6292379 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.6078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2018] [Accepted: 11/06/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The human hand can perform a range of manipulation tasks, from holding a pen to holding a hammer. The central nervous system (CNS) uses different strategies in different manipulation tasks based on task requirements. Attempts to compare postures of the hand have been made for use in robotics and animation industries. In this study, we developed an index called the posture similarity index to quantify the similarity between two human hand postures. Methods Twelve right-handed volunteers performed 70 postures, and lifted and held 30 objects (total of 100 different postures, each performed five times). A 16-sensor electromagnetic tracking system captured the kinematics of individual finger phalanges (segments). We modeled the hand as a 21-DoF system and computed the corresponding joint angles. We used principal component analysis to extract kinematic synergies from this 21-DoF data. We developed a posture similarity index (PSI), that represents the similarity between posture in the synergy (Principal component) space. First, we tested the performance of this index using a synthetic dataset. After confirming that it performs well with the synthetic dataset, we used it to analyze the experimental data. Further, we used PSI to identify postures that are “representative” in the sense that they have a greater overlap (in synergy space) with a large number of postures. Results Our results confirmed that PSI is a relatively accurate index of similarity in synergy space both with synthetic data and real experimental data. Also, more special postures than common postures were found among “representative” postures. Conclusion We developed an index for comparing posture similarity in synergy space and demonstrated its utility by using synthetic dataset and experimental dataset. Besides, we found that “special” postures are actually “special” in the sense that there are more of them in the “representative” postures as identified by our posture similarity index.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nayan Bhatt
- Department of Applied Mechanics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India
| | - Varadhan SKM
- Department of Applied Mechanics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India
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18
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Motor system recruitment during action observation: No correlation between mu-rhythm desynchronization and corticospinal excitability. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0207476. [PMID: 30440042 PMCID: PMC6237396 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0207476] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2018] [Accepted: 10/30/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Observing others’ actions desynchronizes electroencephalographic (EEG) rhythms and modulates corticospinal excitability as assessed by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). However, it remains unclear if these measures reflect similar neurofunctional mechanisms at the individual level. In the present study, a within-subject experiment was designed to assess these two neurophysiological indexes and to quantify their mutual correlation. Participants observed reach-to-grasp actions directed towards a small (precision grip) or a large object (power grip). We focused on two specific time points for both EEG and TMS. The first time point (t1) coincided with the maximum hand aperture, i.e. the moment at which a significant modulation of corticospinal excitability is expected. The second (t2), coincided with the EEG resynchronization occurring at the end of the action, i.e. the moment at which a hypothetic minimum for action observation effect is expected. Results showed a Mu rhythm bilateral desynchronization at t1 with differential resynchronization at t2 in the two hemispheres. Beta rhythm was more desynchronized in the left hemisphere at both time points. These EEG differences, however, were not influenced by grip type. Conversely, motor potentials evoked by TMS in an intrinsic hand muscle revealed an interaction effect of grip and time. No significant correlations between Mu/Beta rhythms and motor evoked potentials were found. These findings are discussed considering the spatial and temporal resolution of the two investigated techniques and argue over two alternative explanations: i. each technique provides different measures of the same process or ii. they describe complementary features of the action observation network in humans.
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19
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Sacheli LM, Arcangeli E, Paulesu E. Evidence for a dyadic motor plan in joint action. Sci Rep 2018; 8:5027. [PMID: 29567946 PMCID: PMC5864721 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-23275-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2017] [Accepted: 03/07/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
What mechanisms distinguish interactive from non-interactive actions? To answer this question we tested participants while they took turns playing music with a virtual partner: in the interactive joint action condition, the participants played a melody together with their partner by grasping (C note) or pressing (G note) a cube-shaped instrument, alternating in playing one note each. In the non-interactive control condition, players’ behavior was not guided by a shared melody, so that the partner’s actions and notes were irrelevant to the participant. In both conditions, the participant’s and partner’s actions were physically congruent (e.g., grasp-grasp) or incongruent (e.g., grasp-point), and the partner’s association between actions and notes was coherent with the participant’s or reversed. Performance in the non-interactive condition was only affected by physical incongruence, whereas joint action was only affected when the partner’s action-note associations were reversed. This shows that task interactivity shapes the sensorimotor coding of others’ behaviors, and that joint action is based on active prediction of the partner’s action effects rather than on passive action imitation. We suggest that such predictions are based on Dyadic Motor Plans that represent both the agent’s and the partner’s contributions to the interaction goal, like playing a melody together.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucia Maria Sacheli
- Department of Psychology and Milan Center for Neuroscience (NeuroMi), University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126, Milan, Italy. .,IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, 20161, Milan, Italy.
| | - Elisa Arcangeli
- Department of Psychology and Milan Center for Neuroscience (NeuroMi), University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126, Milan, Italy
| | - Eraldo Paulesu
- Department of Psychology and Milan Center for Neuroscience (NeuroMi), University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126, Milan, Italy.,IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, 20161, Milan, Italy
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20
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Naro A, Calabrò RS, Leo A, Russo M, Milardi D, Cannavò A, Manuli A, Buda A, Casella C, Bramanti P, Cacciola A, Bramanti A. Bridging the Gap Towards Awareness Detection in Disorders of Consciousness: An Experimental Study on the Mirror Neuron System. Brain Topogr 2018; 31:623-639. [DOI: 10.1007/s10548-018-0628-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2017] [Accepted: 02/01/2018] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
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21
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Cardellicchio P, Hilt PM, Olivier E, Fadiga L, D'Ausilio A. Early modulation of intra-cortical inhibition during the observation of action mistakes. Sci Rep 2018; 8:1784. [PMID: 29379086 PMCID: PMC5788976 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-20245-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2017] [Accepted: 01/12/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Errors while performing an action are fundamental for learning. During interaction others' errors must be monitored and taken into account to allow joint action coordination and imitation learning. This monitoring relies on an action observation network (AON) mainly based on parietofrontal recurrent circuits. Although different studies suggest that inappropriate actions may rapidly be inhibited during execution, little is known about the modulation of the AON when an action misstep is shown. Here we used single and paired pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation to assess corticospinal excitability, intracortical facilitation and intracortical inhibition at different time intervals (120, 180, 240 ms) after the visual presentation of a motor execution error. Results show a specific and early (120 ms) decrease of intracortical inhibition likely because of a significant mismatch between the observed erroneous action and observer's expectations. Indeed, as proposed by the top-down predictive framework, the motor system may be involved in the generation of these error signals and our data show that this mechanism could rely on the early decrease of intracortical inhibition within the corticomotor system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pasquale Cardellicchio
- IIT@UniFe Center for Translational Neurophysiology, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Fossato di Mortara, 17-19, Ferrara, Italy.
| | - Pauline M Hilt
- IIT@UniFe Center for Translational Neurophysiology, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Fossato di Mortara, 17-19, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Etienne Olivier
- Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain, B-1200, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Luciano Fadiga
- IIT@UniFe Center for Translational Neurophysiology, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Fossato di Mortara, 17-19, Ferrara, Italy
- Section of Human Physiology, Università di Ferrara, Via Fossato di Mortara, 17-19, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Alessandro D'Ausilio
- IIT@UniFe Center for Translational Neurophysiology, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Fossato di Mortara, 17-19, Ferrara, Italy
- Section of Human Physiology, Università di Ferrara, Via Fossato di Mortara, 17-19, Ferrara, Italy
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22
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How preschoolers and adults represent their joint action partner's behavior. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2017; 83:863-877. [PMID: 29067520 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-017-0929-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2017] [Accepted: 10/10/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
We investigated the cognitive mechanisms underlying turn-taking joint action in 42-month-old children (Experiment 1) and adults (Experiment 2) using a behavioral task of dressing a virtual bear together. We aimed to investigate how participants represent a partners' behavior, i.e., in terms of specific action kinematics or of action effects. The bear was dressed by pressing a smaller and a bigger button. In the Action-response task, instructions asked participants to respond to the partner by pressing the same or opposite button; in the Action-effect task they had to respond to the partner's action effect by dressing the bear with the lacking part of the clothing, which in some cases implied pressing the same button and in other cases implied pressing the opposite button. In 50% of the trials, the partner's association between each button and the ensuing effect (dressing the bear with t-shirt or pants) was reversed, while it never changed for participants. Both children and adults showed no effect of physical congruency of actions, but showed impaired performance in the Action-effect task if their partner achieved her effect through a different action-effect association than their own. These results suggest that, when encoding their partner's actions, agents are influenced by action-effect associations that they learnt through their own experience. While interference led to overt errors in children, it caused longer reaction times in adults, suggesting that a flexible cognitive control (that is still in development in young children) is required to take on the partner's perspective.
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23
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Facial expressions as a model to test the role of the sensorimotor system in the visual perception of the actions. Exp Brain Res 2017; 235:3771-3783. [PMID: 28975379 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-017-5097-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2017] [Accepted: 09/21/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
A long-term debate concerns whether the sensorimotor coding carried out during transitive actions observation reflects the low-level movement implementation details or the movement goals. On the contrary, phonemes and emotional facial expressions are intransitive actions that do not fall into this debate. The investigation of phonemes discrimination has proven to be a good model to demonstrate that the sensorimotor system plays a role in understanding actions acoustically presented. In the present study, we adapted the experimental paradigms already used in phonemes discrimination during face posture manipulation, to the discrimination of emotional facial expressions. We submitted participants to a lower or to an upper face posture manipulation during the execution of a four alternative labelling task of pictures randomly taken from four morphed continua between two emotional facial expressions. The results showed that the implementation of low-level movement details influence the discrimination of ambiguous facial expressions differing for a specific involvement of those movement details. These findings indicate that facial expressions discrimination is a good model to test the role of the sensorimotor system in the perception of actions visually presented.
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24
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Coco MI, Badino L, Cipresso P, Chirico A, Ferrari E, Riva G, Gaggioli A, D'Ausilio A. Multilevel Behavioral Synchronization in a Joint Tower-Building Task. IEEE Trans Cogn Dev Syst 2017. [DOI: 10.1109/tcds.2016.2545739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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25
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Action observation effects reflect the modular organization of the human motor system. Cortex 2017; 95:104-118. [PMID: 28866300 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.07.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2017] [Revised: 04/27/2017] [Accepted: 07/20/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Action observation, similarly to action execution, facilitates the observer's motor system and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) has been instrumental in exploring the nature of these motor activities. However, contradictory findings question some of the fundamental assumptions regarding the neural computations run by the Action Observation Network (AON). To better understand this issue, we delivered TMS over the observers' motor cortex at two timings of two reaching-grasping actions (precision vs power grip) and we recorded Motor-Evoked Potentials (4 hand/arm muscles; MEPs). At the same time, we also recorded whole-hand TMS Evoked Kinematics (8 hand elevation angles; MEKs) that capture the global functional motor output, as opposed to the limited view offered by recording few muscles. By repeating the same protocol twice, and a third time after continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) over the motor cortex, we observe significant time-dependent grip-specific MEPs and MEKs modulations, that disappeared after cTBS. MEKs, differently from MEPs, exhibit a consistent significant modulation across pre-cTBS sessions. Beside clear methodological implications, the multidimensionality of MEKs opens a window on muscle synergies needed to overcome system redundancy. By providing better access to the AON computations, our results strengthen the idea that action observation shares key organizational similarities with action execution.
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26
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Varlet M, Novembre G, Keller PE. Dynamical entrainment of corticospinal excitability during rhythmic movement observation: a Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation study. Eur J Neurosci 2017; 45:1465-1472. [DOI: 10.1111/ejn.13581] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2016] [Revised: 03/27/2017] [Accepted: 04/02/2017] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Varlet
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development Western Sydney University Locked Bag 1797 Penrith NSW 2751 Australia
| | - Giacomo Novembre
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development Western Sydney University Locked Bag 1797 Penrith NSW 2751 Australia
- Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology University College London London UK
| | - Peter E. Keller
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development Western Sydney University Locked Bag 1797 Penrith NSW 2751 Australia
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27
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Perrone-Capano C, Volpicelli F, di Porzio U. Biological bases of human musicality. Rev Neurosci 2017; 28:235-245. [PMID: 28107174 DOI: 10.1515/revneuro-2016-0046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2016] [Accepted: 11/04/2016] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Music is a universal language, present in all human societies. It pervades the lives of most human beings and can recall memories and feelings of the past, can exert positive effects on our mood, can be strongly evocative and ignite intense emotions, and can establish or strengthen social bonds. In this review, we summarize the research and recent progress on the origins and neural substrates of human musicality as well as the changes in brain plasticity elicited by listening or performing music. Indeed, music improves performance in a number of cognitive tasks and may have beneficial effects on diseased brains. The emerging picture begins to unravel how and why particular brain circuits are affected by music. Numerous studies show that music affects emotions and mood, as it is strongly associated with the brain's reward system. We can therefore assume that an in-depth study of the relationship between music and the brain may help to shed light on how the mind works and how the emotions arise and may improve the methods of music-based rehabilitation for people with neurological disorders. However, many facets of the mind-music connection still remain to be explored and enlightened.
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28
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Beta rhythm modulation by speech sounds: somatotopic mapping in somatosensory cortex. Sci Rep 2016; 6:31182. [PMID: 27499204 PMCID: PMC4976318 DOI: 10.1038/srep31182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2016] [Accepted: 07/13/2016] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
During speech listening motor regions are somatotopically activated, resembling the activity that subtends actual speech production, suggesting that motor commands can be retrieved from sensory inputs. Crucially, the efficient motor control of the articulators relies on the accurate anticipation of the somatosensory reafference. Nevertheless, evidence about somatosensory activities elicited by auditory speech processing is sparse. The present work looked for specific interactions between auditory speech presentation and somatosensory cortical information processing. We used an auditory speech identification task with sounds having different place of articulation (bilabials and dentals). We tested whether coupling the auditory task with a peripheral electrical stimulation of the lips would affect the pattern of sensorimotor electroencephalographic rhythms. Peripheral electrical stimulation elicits a series of spectral perturbations of which the beta rebound reflects the return-to-baseline stage of somatosensory processing. We show a left-lateralized and selective reduction in the beta rebound following lip somatosensory stimulation when listening to speech sounds produced with the lips (i.e. bilabials). Thus, the somatosensory processing could not return to baseline due to the recruitment of the same neural resources by speech stimuli. Our results are a clear demonstration that heard speech sounds are somatotopically mapped onto somatosensory cortices, according to place of articulation.
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29
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Abstract
Mirror neurons (MNs) are a fascinating class of cells originally discovered in the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) and, subsequently, in the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) of the macaque, which become active during both the execution and observation of actions. In this review, I will first highlight the mounting evidence indicating that mirroring others’ actions engages a broad system of reciprocally connected cortical areas, which extends well beyond the classical IPL-PMv circuit and might even include subcortical regions such as the basal ganglia. Then, I will present the most recent findings supporting the idea that the observation of one’s own actions, which might play a role in the ontogenetic origin and tuning of MNs, retains a particular relevance within the adult MN system. Finally, I will propose that both cortical and subcortical mechanisms do exist to decouple MN activity from the motor output, in order to render it exploitable for high-order perceptual, cognitive, and even social functions. The findings reviewed here provide an original framework for envisaging the main challenges and experimental directions of future neurophysiological and neuroanatomical studies of the monkey MN system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Bonini
- Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Brain Center for Social and Motor Cognition, and Department of Neuroscience, Parma, Italy
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30
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Leo A, Handjaras G, Bianchi M, Marino H, Gabiccini M, Guidi A, Scilingo EP, Pietrini P, Bicchi A, Santello M, Ricciardi E. A synergy-based hand control is encoded in human motor cortical areas. eLife 2016; 5. [PMID: 26880543 PMCID: PMC4786436 DOI: 10.7554/elife.13420] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2015] [Accepted: 02/13/2016] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
How the human brain controls hand movements to carry out different tasks is still debated. The concept of synergy has been proposed to indicate functional modules that may simplify the control of hand postures by simultaneously recruiting sets of muscles and joints. However, whether and to what extent synergic hand postures are encoded as such at a cortical level remains unknown. Here, we combined kinematic, electromyography, and brain activity measures obtained by functional magnetic resonance imaging while subjects performed a variety of movements towards virtual objects. Hand postural information, encoded through kinematic synergies, were represented in cortical areas devoted to hand motor control and successfully discriminated individual grasping movements, significantly outperforming alternative somatotopic or muscle-based models. Importantly, hand postural synergies were predicted by neural activation patterns within primary motor cortex. These findings support a novel cortical organization for hand movement control and open potential applications for brain-computer interfaces and neuroprostheses. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.13420.001 The human hand can perform an enormous range of movements with great dexterity. Some common everyday actions, such as grasping a coffee cup, involve the coordinated movement of all four fingers and thumb. Others, such as typing, rely on the ability of individual fingers to move relatively independently of one another. This flexibility is possible in part because of the complex anatomy of the hand, with its 27 bones and their connecting joints and muscles. But with this complexity comes a huge number of possibilities. Any movement-related task – such as picking up a cup – can be achieved via many different combinations of muscle contractions and joint positions. So how does the brain decide which muscles and joints to use? One theory is that the brain simplifies this problem by encoding particularly useful patterns of joint movements as distinct units or “synergies”. A given task can then be performed by selecting from a small number of synergies, avoiding the need to choose between huge numbers of options every time movement is required. Leo et al. now provide the first direct evidence for the encoding of synergies by the human brain. Volunteers lying inside a brain scanner reached towards virtual objects – from tennis rackets to toothpicks – while activity was recorded from the area of the brain that controls hand movements. As predicted, the scans showed specific and reproducible patterns of activity. Analysing these patterns revealed that each corresponded to a particular combination of joint positions. These activity patterns, or synergies, could even be ‘decoded’ to work out which type of movement a volunteer had just performed. Future experiments should examine how the brain combines synergies with sensory feedback to allow movements to be adjusted as they occur. Such findings could help to develop brain-computer interfaces and systems for controlling the movement of artificial limbs. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.13420.002
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Leo
- Laboratory of Clinical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.,Research Center 'E. Piaggio', University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Giacomo Handjaras
- Laboratory of Clinical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Matteo Bianchi
- Research Center 'E. Piaggio', University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.,Advanced Robotics Department, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy
| | - Hamal Marino
- Research Center 'E. Piaggio', University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Marco Gabiccini
- Research Center 'E. Piaggio', University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.,Advanced Robotics Department, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy.,Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Andrea Guidi
- Research Center 'E. Piaggio', University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Enzo Pasquale Scilingo
- Research Center 'E. Piaggio', University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.,Department of Information Engineering, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Pietro Pietrini
- Laboratory of Clinical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.,Research Center 'E. Piaggio', University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.,Clinical Psychology Branch, Pisa University Hospital, Pisa, Italy.,IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Lucca, Italy
| | - Antonio Bicchi
- Research Center 'E. Piaggio', University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.,Advanced Robotics Department, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy
| | - Marco Santello
- School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, United States
| | - Emiliano Ricciardi
- Laboratory of Clinical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.,Research Center 'E. Piaggio', University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
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31
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Tidoni E, Candidi M. Commentary: Understanding intentions from actions: Direct perception, inference, and the roles of mirror and mentalizing systems. Front Behav Neurosci 2016; 10:13. [PMID: 26903829 PMCID: PMC4749676 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2015] [Accepted: 01/26/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Emmanuele Tidoni
- Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico Fondazione Santa LuciaRome, Italy; Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of RomeRome, Italy
| | - Matteo Candidi
- Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico Fondazione Santa LuciaRome, Italy; Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of RomeRome, Italy
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32
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Finisguerra A, Maffongelli L, Bassolino M, Jacono M, Pozzo T, D'Ausilio A. Generalization of motor resonance during the observation of hand, mouth, and eye movements. J Neurophysiol 2015; 114:2295-304. [PMID: 26289463 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00433.2015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2015] [Accepted: 08/18/2015] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the motor cortex shows that hand action observation (AO) modulates corticospinal excitability (CSE). CSE modulation alternatively maps low-level kinematic characteristics or higher-level features, like object-directed action goals. However, action execution is achieved through the control of muscle synergies, consisting of coordinated patterns of muscular activity during natural movements, rather than single muscles or object-directed goals. This synergistic organization of action execution also underlies the ability to produce the same functional output (i.e., grasping an object) using different effectors. We hypothesize that motor system activation during AO may rely on similar principles. To investigate this issue, we recorded both hand CSE and TMS-evoked finger movements which provide a much more complete description of coordinated patterns of muscular activity. Subjects passively watched hand, mouth and eyelid opening or closing, which are performing non-object-directed (intransitive) actions. Hand and mouth share the same potential to grasp objects, whereas eyelid does not allow object-directed (transitive) actions. Hand CSE modulation generalized to all effectors, while TMS evoked finger movements only to mouth AO. Such dissociation suggests that the two techniques may have different sensitivities to fine motor modulations induced by AO. Differently from evoked movements, which are sensitive to the possibility to achieve object-directed action, CSE is generically modulated by "opening" vs. "closing" movements, independently of which effector was observed. We propose that motor activities during AO might exploit the same synergistic mechanisms shown for the neural control of movement and organized around a limited set of motor primitives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandra Finisguerra
- Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, Italian Institute of Technology, Genova, Italy; Dipartimento di Scienze Umane, Università Degli Studi di Udine, Udine, Italy
| | - Laura Maffongelli
- Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, Italian Institute of Technology, Genova, Italy
| | - Michela Bassolino
- Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, Italian Institute of Technology, Genova, Italy; Center for Neuroprosthetics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; and
| | - Marco Jacono
- Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, Italian Institute of Technology, Genova, Italy
| | - Thierry Pozzo
- Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, Italian Institute of Technology, Genova, Italy; IUF, INSERM U1093 Cognition, Action et Plasticité Sensorimotrice, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France
| | - Alessandro D'Ausilio
- Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, Italian Institute of Technology, Genova, Italy;
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33
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Halje P, Seeck M, Blanke O, Ionta S. Inferior frontal oscillations reveal visuo-motor matching for actions and speech: evidence from human intracranial recordings. Neuropsychologia 2015; 79:206-14. [PMID: 26282276 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.08.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2015] [Revised: 08/03/2015] [Accepted: 08/13/2015] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
The neural correspondence between the systems responsible for the execution and recognition of actions has been suggested both in humans and non-human primates. Apart from being a key region of this visuo-motor observation-execution matching (OEM) system, the human inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) is also important for speech production. The functional overlap of visuo-motor OEM and speech, together with the phylogenetic history of the IFG as a motor area, has led to the idea that speech function has evolved from pre-existing motor systems and to the hypothesis that an OEM system may exist also for speech. However, visuo-motor OEM and speech OEM have never been compared directly. We used electrocorticography to analyze oscillations recorded from intracranial electrodes in human fronto-parieto-temporal cortex during visuo-motor (executing or visually observing an action) and speech OEM tasks (verbally describing an action using the first or third person pronoun). The results show that neural activity related to visuo-motor OEM is widespread in the frontal, parietal, and temporal regions. Speech OEM also elicited widespread responses partly overlapping with visuo-motor OEM sites (bilaterally), including frontal, parietal, and temporal regions. Interestingly a more focal region, the inferior frontal gyrus (bilaterally), showed both visuo-motor OEM and speech OEM properties independent of orolingual speech-unrelated movements. Building on the methodological advantages in human invasive electrocorticography, the present findings provide highly precise spatial and temporal information to support the existence of a modality-independent action representation system in the human brain that is shared between systems for performing, interpreting and describing actions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pär Halje
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland; Integrative Neurophysiology and Neurotechnology, Department of Experimental Medical Sciences, Lund University, Sweden
| | - Margitta Seeck
- Presurgical Epilepsy Evaluation Unit, Department of Neurology, Geneva University Hospital (HUG), Switzerland
| | - Olaf Blanke
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland; Presurgical Epilepsy Evaluation Unit, Department of Neurology, Geneva University Hospital (HUG), Switzerland
| | - Silvio Ionta
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland; The Laboratory for Investigative Neurophysiology (The LINE), Department of Radiology and Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital Center and University of Lausanne, Switzerland.
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Sacheli LM, Aglioti SM, Candidi M. Social cues to joint actions: the role of shared goals. Front Psychol 2015; 6:1034. [PMID: 26283986 PMCID: PMC4519671 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2015] [Accepted: 07/06/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In daily life, we do not just move independently from how others move. Rather, the way we move conveys information about our cognitive and affective attitudes toward our conspecifics. However, the implicit social substrate of our movements is not easy to capture and isolate given the complexity of human interactive behaviors. In this perspective article we discuss the crucial conditions for exploring the impact of "interpersonal" cognitive/emotional dimensions on the motor behavior of individuals interacting in realistic contexts. We argue that testing interactions requires one to build up naturalistic and yet controlled scenarios where participants reciprocally adapt their movements in order to achieve an overarching "shared goal." We suggest that a shared goal is what singles out real interactions from situations where two or more individuals contingently but independently act next to each other, and that "interpersonal" socio-emotional dimensions might fail to affect co-agents' behaviors if real interactions are not at place. We report the results of a novel joint-grasping task suitable for exploring how individual sub-goals (i.e., correctly grasping an object) relate to, and depend from, the representation of "shared goals."
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucia M Sacheli
- Department of Psychology, University of Rome "Sapienza" , Rome, Italy ; Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, Fondazione Santa Lucia , Rome, Italy ; Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca , Milan, Italy
| | - Salvatore M Aglioti
- Department of Psychology, University of Rome "Sapienza" , Rome, Italy ; Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, Fondazione Santa Lucia , Rome, Italy
| | - Matteo Candidi
- Department of Psychology, University of Rome "Sapienza" , Rome, Italy ; Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, Fondazione Santa Lucia , Rome, Italy
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Joining forces: motor control meets mirror neurons: comment on "Grasping synergies: a motor-control approach to the mirror neuron mechanism" by D'Ausilio, Bartoli, and Maffongelli. Phys Life Rev 2015; 12:111-3. [PMID: 25727485 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2015.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2014] [Accepted: 12/31/2014] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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Pezzulo G, Donnarumma F, Iodice P, Prevete R, Dindo H. The role of synergies within generative models of action execution and recognition: a computational perspective: comment on "Grasping synergies: a motor-control approach to the mirror neuron mechanism" by A. D'Ausilio et al. Phys Life Rev 2015; 12:114-7. [PMID: 25659528 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2015.01.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2015] [Accepted: 01/13/2015] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Giovanni Pezzulo
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy.
| | - Francesco Donnarumma
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy
| | - Pierpaolo Iodice
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy
| | - Roberto Prevete
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica e delle Tecnologie dell'Informazione (DIETI), Università di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy
| | - Haris Dindo
- Computer Science Engineering, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
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The mirror neuron analogy: implications for rehabilitation neuroscience: comment on "Grasping synergies: a motor-control approach to the mirror neuron mechanism" by A. D'Ausilio et al. Phys Life Rev 2015; 12:106-7. [PMID: 25687343 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2015.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2015] [Accepted: 01/29/2015] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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Hamilton AFDC. The granularity of grasping: comment on "Grasping synergies: a motor-control approach to the mirror neuron mechanism" by A. D'Ausilio et al. Phys Life Rev 2015; 12:131-2. [PMID: 25638446 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2015.01.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2015] [Accepted: 01/16/2015] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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Swinnen SP, Alaerts K. Granularity of the mirror neuron system: a complex endeavor: comment on "Grasping synergies: a motor-control approach to the mirror neuron mechanism" by A. D'Ausilio et al. Phys Life Rev 2015; 12:120-2. [PMID: 25637140 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2015.01.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2015] [Accepted: 01/09/2015] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- S P Swinnen
- KU Leuven Movement Control & Neuroplasticity Research Group, Department of Kinesiology, Belgium; KU Leuven, Leuven Research Institute for Neuroscience & Disease (LIND), KU Leuven, Belgium.
| | - K Alaerts
- KU Leuven Movement Control & Neuroplasticity Research Group, Department of Kinesiology, Belgium
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Cattaneo L. Granularity within the mirror system is not informative on action perception: comment on "Grasping synergies: a motor-control approach to the mirror neuron mechanism" by D'Ausilio et al. Phys Life Rev 2015; 12:123-5. [PMID: 25637139 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2015.01.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2015] [Accepted: 01/09/2015] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Luigi Cattaneo
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, Via delle Regole 101, 38123, Trento, Italy.
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The cortical mirror system reflects the cortical motor system: comment on "Grasping synergies: a motor-control approach to the mirror neuron mechanism" by A. D'Ausilio et al. Phys Life Rev 2015; 12:108-10. [PMID: 25623961 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2015.01.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2014] [Accepted: 01/12/2015] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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Santello M. Inference and representations of hand actions through grasping synergies: comment on "Grasping synergies: a motor-control approach to the mirror neuron mechanism" by D'Ausilio, Bartoli, and Maffongelli. Phys Life Rev 2015; 12:118-9. [PMID: 25618398 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2015.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2014] [Accepted: 12/27/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Marco Santello
- Neural Control of Movement Laboratory, School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, Arizona State University, 501 East Tyler Mall, ECG Building, Suite 334, Tempe, AZ, USA.
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From muscles synergies and individual goals to interpersonal synergies and shared goals: mirror neurons and interpersonal action hierarchies: comment on "Grasping synergies: a motor-control approach to the mirror neuron mechanism" by D'Ausilio et al. Phys Life Rev 2015; 12:126-8. [PMID: 25680905 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2015.01.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2014] [Accepted: 01/19/2015] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
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Enticott PG. Toward a functional account of the human mirror system: comment on "Grasping synergies: a motor-control approach to the mirror neuron mechanism" by A. D'Ausilio et al. Phys Life Rev 2015; 12:104-5. [PMID: 25623960 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2015.01.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2014] [Revised: 01/11/2015] [Accepted: 01/12/2015] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Peter G Enticott
- Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria, 3125, Australia.
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