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Knaus TA, Burns CO, Kamps J, Foundas AL. Action viewing and language in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Exp Brain Res 2023; 241:559-570. [PMID: 36625967 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-022-06540-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2022] [Accepted: 12/28/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
The mirror neuron system consists of fronto-parietal regions and responds to both goal-directed action execution and observation. The broader action observation network is specifically involved in observation of actions and is thought to play a role in understanding the goals of the motor act, the intention of others, empathy, and language. Many, but not all, studies have found mirror neuron system or action observation network dysfunction in autism spectrum disorder. The objective of this study was to use observation of a goal-directed action fMRI paradigm to examine the action observation network in autism spectrum disorder and to determine whether fronto-parietal activation is associated with language ability. Adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (n = 23) were compared to typically developing adolescents (n = 20), 11-17 years. Overall, there were no group differences in activation, however, the autism spectrum group with impaired expressive language (n = 13) had significantly reduced inferior frontal and inferior parietal activation during action viewing. In controls, right supramarginal gyrus activation was associated with higher expressive language; bilateral supramarginal and left pars opercularis activation was associated with better verbal-gesture integration. Results suggest that action-observation network dysfunction may characterize a subgroup of individuals with autism spectrum disorder with expressive language deficits. Therefore, interventions that target this dysfunctional network may improve expressive language in this autism spectrum subgroup. Future treatment studies should individualize therapeutic approaches based on brain-behavior relationships.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tracey A Knaus
- Brain and Behavior Program at Children's Hospital, Department of Neurology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-New Orleans, New Orleans, USA. .,Department of Psychology, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USA.
| | - Claire O Burns
- Brain and Behavior Program at Children's Hospital, Department of Neurology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-New Orleans, New Orleans, USA.,Michael R. Boh Center for Child Development, Ochsner Hospital, New Orleans, LA, USA
| | - Jodi Kamps
- Department of Psychology, Children's Hospital and Department of Pediatrics, Louisiana State Univeristy Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, USA
| | - Anne L Foundas
- Brain and Behavior Program at Children's Hospital, Department of Neurology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-New Orleans, New Orleans, USA.,The Brain Institute of Louisiana, New Orleans, USA
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2
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Copelli F, Rovetti J, Ammirante P, Russo FA. Human mirror neuron system responsivity to unimodal and multimodal presentations of action. Exp Brain Res 2021; 240:537-548. [PMID: 34817643 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-021-06266-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2020] [Accepted: 11/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
This study aims to clarify unresolved questions from two earlier studies by McGarry et al. Exp Brain Res 218(4): 527-538, 2012 and Kaplan and Iacoboni Cogn Process 8: 103-113, 2007 on human mirror neuron system (hMNS) responsivity to multimodal presentations of actions. These questions are: (1) whether the two frontal areas originally identified by Kaplan and Iacoboni (ventral premotor cortex [vPMC] and inferior frontal gyrus [IFG]) are both part of the hMNS (i.e., do they respond to execution as well as observation), (2) whether both areas yield effects of biologicalness (biological, control) and modality (audio, visual, audiovisual), and (3) whether the vPMC is preferentially responsive to multimodal input. To resolve these questions about the hMNS, we replicated and extended McGarry et al.'s electroencephalography (EEG) study, while incorporating advanced source localization methods. Participants were asked to execute movements (ripping paper) as well as observe those movements across the same three modalities (audio, visual, and audiovisual), all while 64-channel EEG data was recorded. Two frontal sources consistent with those identified in prior studies showed mu event-related desynchronization (mu-ERD) under execution and observation conditions. These sources also showed a greater response to biological movement than to control stimuli as well as a distinct visual advantage, with greater responsivity to visual and audiovisual compared to audio conditions. Exploratory analyses of mu-ERD in the vPMC under visual and audiovisual observation conditions suggests that the hMNS tracks the magnitude of visual movement over time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fran Copelli
- Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Joseph Rovetti
- Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Paolo Ammirante
- Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Frank A Russo
- Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada.
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3
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Seitz RJ, Angel HF. Belief formation - A driving force for brain evolution. Brain Cogn 2020; 140:105548. [PMID: 32062327 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2020.105548] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2019] [Revised: 02/06/2020] [Accepted: 02/06/2020] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
The topic of belief has been neglected in the natural sciences for a long period of time. Recent neuroscience research in non-human primates and humans, however, has shown that beliefs are the neuropsychic product of fundamental brain processes that attribute affective meaning to concrete objects and events, enabling individual goal setting, decision making and maneuvering in the environment. With regard to the involved neural processes they can be categorized as empirical, relational, and conceptual beliefs. Empirical beliefs are about objects and relational beliefs are about events as in tool use and in interactions between subjects that develop below the level of awareness and are up-dated dynamically. Conceptual beliefs are more complex being based on narratives and participation in ritual acts. As neural processes are known to require computational space in the brain, the formation of inceasingly complex beliefs demands extra neural resources. Here, we argue that the evolution of human beliefs is related to the phylogenetic enlargement of the brain including the parietal and medial frontal cortex in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rüdiger J Seitz
- Department of Neurology, Centre of Neurology and Neuropsychiatry, LVR-Klinikum Düsseldorf, Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany; Florey Neuroscience Institutes, Melbourne, Australia.
| | - Hans-Ferdinand Angel
- Karl Franzens University Graz, Institute of Catechetic and Pedagogic of Religion, Graz, Austria
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Javaheripour N, Shahdipour N, Noori K, Zarei M, Camilleri JA, Laird AR, Fox PT, Eickhoff SB, Eickhoff CR, Rosenzweig I, Khazaie H, Tahmasian M. Functional brain alterations in acute sleep deprivation: An activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis. Sleep Med Rev 2019; 46:64-73. [PMID: 31063939 PMCID: PMC7279069 DOI: 10.1016/j.smrv.2019.03.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2018] [Revised: 03/18/2019] [Accepted: 03/21/2019] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Sleep deprivation (SD) is a common problem in modern societies, which leads to cognitive dysfunctions including attention lapses, impaired working memory, hindering decision making, impaired emotional processing, and motor vehicle accidents. Numerous neuroimaging studies have investigated the neural correlates of SD, but these studies have reported inconsistent results. Thus, we aimed to identify convergent patterns of abnormal brain functions due to acute SD. Based on the preferred reporting for systematic reviews and meta-analyses statement, we searched the PubMed database and performed reference tracking and finally retrieved 31 eligible functional neuroimaging studies. Then, we applied activation estimation likelihood meta-analysis and found reduced activity mainly in the right intraparietal sulcus and superior parietal lobule. The functional decoding analysis using the BrainMap database indicated that this region is mostly related to visuospatial perception, memory and reasoning. The significant co-activation of this region using the BrainMap database were found in the left superior parietal lobule, intraparietal sulcus, bilateral occipital cortex, left fusiform gyrus and thalamus. This region also connected with the superior parietal lobule, intraparietal sulcus, insula, inferior frontal gyrus, precentral, occipital and cerebellum through resting-state functional connectivity in healthy subjects. Taken together, our findings highlight the role of superior parietal cortex in SD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nooshin Javaheripour
- Institute of Medical Science and Technology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Niloofar Shahdipour
- Sleep Disorders Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran
| | - Khadijeh Noori
- Sleep Disorders Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran
| | - Mojtaba Zarei
- Institute of Medical Science and Technology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Julia A Camilleri
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Angela R Laird
- Department of Physics, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
| | - Peter T Fox
- Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA; South Texas Veterans Healthcare System University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA
| | - Simon B Eickhoff
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1; INM-7), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Claudia R Eickhoff
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1; INM-7), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Ivana Rosenzweig
- Sleep Disorders Centre, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, GSTT NHS, London, UK; Sleep and Brain Plasticity Centre, Department of Neuroimaging, IOPPN, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Habibolah Khazaie
- Sleep Disorders Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.
| | - Masoud Tahmasian
- Institute of Medical Science and Technology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
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Abstract
Mirror neurons were discovered over twenty years ago in the ventral premotor region F5 of the macaque monkey. Since their discovery much has been written about these neurons, both in the scientific literature and in the popular press. They have been proposed to be the neuronal substrate underlying a vast array of different functions. Indeed so much has been written about mirror neurons that last year they were referred to, rightly or wrongly, as “The most hyped concept in neuroscience”. Here we try to cut through some of this hyperbole and review what is currently known (and not known) about mirror neurons.
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Affiliation(s)
- J M Kilner
- Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK, WC1N 3BG.
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van Elk M, van Schie H, Bekkering H. Action semantics: A unifying conceptual framework for the selective use of multimodal and modality-specific object knowledge. Phys Life Rev 2014; 11:220-50. [DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2013.11.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 100] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2013] [Accepted: 11/11/2013] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
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7
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Kraskov A, Philipp R, Waldert S, Vigneswaran G, Quallo MM, Lemon RN. Corticospinal mirror neurons. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2014; 369:20130174. [PMID: 24778371 PMCID: PMC4006177 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2013.0174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Here, we report the properties of neurons with mirror-like characteristics that were identified as pyramidal tract neurons (PTNs) and recorded in the ventral premotor cortex (area F5) and primary motor cortex (M1) of three macaque monkeys. We analysed the neurons' discharge while the monkeys performed active grasp of either food or an object, and also while they observed an experimenter carrying out a similar range of grasps. A considerable proportion of tested PTNs showed clear mirror-like properties (52% F5 and 58% M1). Some PTNs exhibited 'classical' mirror neuron properties, increasing activity for both execution and observation, while others decreased their discharge during observation ('suppression mirror-neurons'). These experiments not only demonstrate the existence of PTNs as mirror neurons in M1, but also reveal some interesting differences between M1 and F5 mirror PTNs. Although observation-related changes in the discharge of PTNs must reach the spinal cord and will include some direct projections to motoneurons supplying grasping muscles, there was no EMG activity in these muscles during action observation. We suggest that the mirror neuron system is involved in the withholding of unwanted movement during action observation. Mirror neurons are differentially recruited in the behaviour that switches rapidly between making your own movements and observing those of others.
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Ferrari PF, Tramacere A, Simpson EA, Iriki A. Mirror neurons through the lens of epigenetics. Trends Cogn Sci 2013; 17:450-7. [PMID: 23953747 PMCID: PMC3869228 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2013.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2013] [Revised: 07/05/2013] [Accepted: 07/06/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
The consensus view in mirror neuron research is that mirror neurons comprise a uniform, stable execution-observation matching system. In this opinion article, we argue that, in light of recent evidence, this is at best an incomplete and oversimplified view of mirror neurons, where activity is actually variable and more plastic than previously theorized. We propose an epigenetic account for understanding developmental changes in sensorimotor systems, including variations in mirror neuron activity. Although associative and genetic accounts fail to consider the complexity of genetic and nongenetic interactions, we propose a new evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) perspective, which predicts that environmental differences early in development should produce variations in mirror neuron response patterns, tuning them to the social environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pier F Ferrari
- Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy.
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Iriki A, Taoka M. Triadic (ecological, neural, cognitive) niche construction: a scenario of human brain evolution extrapolating tool use and language from the control of reaching actions. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2012; 367:10-23. [PMID: 22106423 PMCID: PMC3223791 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2011.0190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Hominin evolution has involved a continuous process of addition of new kinds of cognitive capacity, including those relating to manufacture and use of tools and to the establishment of linguistic faculties. The dramatic expansion of the brain that accompanied additions of new functional areas would have supported such continuous evolution. Extended brain functions would have driven rapid and drastic changes in the hominin ecological niche, which in turn demanded further brain resources to adapt to it. In this way, humans have constructed a novel niche in each of the ecological, cognitive and neural domains, whose interactions accelerated their individual evolution through a process of triadic niche construction. Human higher cognitive activity can therefore be viewed holistically as one component in a terrestrial ecosystem. The brain's functional characteristics seem to play a key role in this triadic interaction. We advance a speculative argument about the origins of its neurobiological mechanisms, as an extension (with wider scope) of the evolutionary principles of adaptive function in the animal nervous system. The brain mechanisms that subserve tool use may bridge the gap between gesture and language—the site of such integration seems to be the parietal and extending opercular cortices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Atsushi Iriki
- Laboratory for Symbolic Cognitive Development, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako-shi, Saitama 351-0198, Japan.
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10
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Noack RA. Solving the "human problem": the frontal feedback model. Conscious Cogn 2012; 21:1043-67. [PMID: 22330981 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2012.01.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2011] [Revised: 01/16/2012] [Accepted: 01/16/2012] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
This paper argues that humans possess unique cognitive abilities due to the presence of a functional system that exists in the human brain that is absent in the non-human brain. This system, the frontal feedback system, was born in the hominin brain when the great phylogenetic expansion of the prefrontal cortex relative to posterior sensory regions surpassed a critical threshold. Surpassing that threshold effectively reversed the preferred direction of information flow in the highest association regions of the neocortex, producing the frontal feedback system. This reversal was from the caudo-rostral bias characteristic of non-human, or pre-human, brain dynamics to a rostro-caudal bias characteristic of modern human brain dynamics. The frontal feedback system works through frontal motor routines, or action schemes, manipulating the release and reconstruction of stored sensory memories in posterior sensory areas. As an obligatory feature of frontal feedback, a central character, or self, emerges within this cortical network that manifests itself as agent in these reconstructions as well as in the experience of sensory perceptions. Dynamical-systems modeling of cortical interactions is combined in the paper with recent neuroimaging studies of "resting-state" brain activity to bridge the gap between microscopic and macroscopic levels of cortical behavior. This synthesis is used to support the proposal of an information flow reversal occurring in the hominin brain and also to explain how such a reversal generates the wide variety of cognitive and experiential phenomena that many consider to be uniquely human.
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Ocampo B, Kritikos A. Interpreting actions: The goal behind mirror neuron function. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2011; 67:260-7. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brainresrev.2011.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2011] [Revised: 02/28/2011] [Accepted: 03/03/2011] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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12
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Yamazaki Y, Hashimoto T, Iriki A. The posterior parietal cortex and non-spatial cognition. F1000 BIOLOGY REPORTS 2009; 1:74. [PMID: 20948614 PMCID: PMC2948259 DOI: 10.3410/b1-74] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
The primate posterior parietal cortex (PPC) processes information related to environmental physical space. The human PPC has apparently expanded not only in size but also in its functional range to encompass certain abstract and higher-order conceptual spaces. In this report, we review various forms of non-spatial representation in the PPC. These forms are presented roughly in order of the level of abstraction of the 'objects' and pseudo-spatial relations represented. Also, we consider mechanisms that could have enabled the hominid PPC to establish such representations. Lastly, we offer a general principle to unify the newer forms of representation with the original functions of the PPC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yumiko Yamazaki
- Laboratory for Symbolic Cognitive Development, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako-shi, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
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