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Betti S, Zani G, Guerra S, Granziol U, Castiello U, Begliomini C, Sartori L. When Corticospinal Inhibition Favors an Efficient Motor Response. BIOLOGY 2023; 12:biology12020332. [PMID: 36829607 PMCID: PMC9953307 DOI: 10.3390/biology12020332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2022] [Revised: 12/25/2022] [Accepted: 02/18/2023] [Indexed: 02/23/2023]
Abstract
Many daily activities involve responding to the actions of other people. However, the functional relationship between the motor preparation and execution phases still needs to be clarified. With the combination of different and complementary experimental techniques (i.e., motor excitability measures, reaction times, electromyography, and dyadic 3-D kinematics), we investigated the behavioral and neurophysiological signatures characterizing different stages of a motor response in contexts calling for an interactive action. Participants were requested to perform an action (i.e., stirring coffee or lifting a coffee cup) following a co-experimenter's request gesture. Another condition, in which a non-interactive gesture was used, was also included. Greater corticospinal inhibition was found when participants prepared their motor response after observing an interactive request, compared to a non-interactive gesture. This, in turn, was associated with faster and more efficient action execution in kinematic terms (i.e., a social motor priming effect). Our results provide new insights on the inhibitory and facilitatory drives guiding social motor response generation. Altogether, the integration of behavioral and neurophysiological indexes allowed us to demonstrate that a more efficient action execution followed a greater corticospinal inhibition. These indexes provide a full picture of motor activity at both planning and execution stages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sonia Betti
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Viale Rasi e Spinelli 176, 47521 Cesena, Italy
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
- Correspondence:
| | - Giovanni Zani
- School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Kelburn Parade 20, Wellington 6012, New Zealand
| | - Silvia Guerra
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
| | - Umberto Granziol
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
| | - Umberto Castiello
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
- Padua Center for Network Medicine, University of Padova, Via Francesco Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
| | - Chiara Begliomini
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Via Giuseppe Orus 2, 35131 Padova, Italy
| | - Luisa Sartori
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Via Giuseppe Orus 2, 35131 Padova, Italy
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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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Betti S, Castiello U, Guerra S, Granziol U, Zani G, Sartori L. Gaze and body cues interplay during interactive requests. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0223591. [PMID: 31634344 PMCID: PMC6802846 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0223591] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2019] [Accepted: 09/24/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Although observing other's gaze and body movements provides a crucial source of information to successfully interact with other people, it remains unclear whether observers weigh differently these cues and whether the convergence of gaze and body's directions determines facilitation effects. Here we aim to shed more light on this issue by testing the reliance upon these cues from both a behavioral and a neurophysiological perspective in a social interactive context. In Experiment 1, we manipulated the convergence between the direction of an actor's upper limb movement and gaze direction while he attempts to socially interact with the participants observing the scene. We determined the direction of gaze as well as the duration of participants' ocular fixations during the observation of the scene. In Experiment 2, we measured and correlated the effect of the body/gaze manipulation on corticospinal excitability and on the readiness to interact-a disposition to engage in social situations. Eye-tracking data revealed that participants fixated chiefly the actor's head when his hand and gaze directions were divergent. Possibly a strategy to disambiguate the scene. Whereas participants mainly fixated the actor's hand when he performed an interactive request toward the participants. From a neurophysiological point of view, the more participants felt involved in the interaction, the lower was motor preparation in the muscle potentially needed to fulfill the actor's request. We contend that social contexts are more likely to elicit motor preparation compared to non-social ones, and that muscular inhibition is a necessary mechanism in order to prevent unwanted overt reactions during action observation tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sonia Betti
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | | | - Silvia Guerra
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Umberto Granziol
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Giovanni Zani
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Luisa Sartori
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
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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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Casartelli L, Federici A, Biffi E, Molteni M, Ronconi L. Are We "Motorically" Wired to Others? High-Level Motor Computations and Their Role in Autism. Neuroscientist 2017; 24:568-581. [PMID: 29271293 DOI: 10.1177/1073858417750466] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
High-level motor computations reflect abstract components far apart from the mere motor performance. Neural correlates of these computations have been explored both in nonhuman and human primates, supporting the idea that our brain recruits complex nodes for motor representations. Of note, these computations have exciting implications for social cognition, and they also entail important challenges in the context of autism. Here, we focus on these challenges benefiting from recent studies addressing motor interference, motor resonance, and high-level motor planning. In addition, we suggest new ideas about how one maps and shares the (motor) space with others. Taken together, these issues inspire intriguing and fascinating questions about the social tendency of our high-level motor computations, and this tendency may indicate that we are "motorically" wired to others. Thus, after furnishing preliminary insights on putative neural nodes involved in these computations, we focus on how the hypothesized social nature of high-level motor computations may be anomalous or limited in autism, and why this represents a critical challenge for the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Casartelli
- 1 Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute IRCCS E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
| | - Alessandra Federici
- 1 Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute IRCCS E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
| | - Emilia Biffi
- 2 Bioengeenering Laboratory, Scientific Institute IRCCS E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
| | - Massimo Molteni
- 1 Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute IRCCS E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
| | - Luca Ronconi
- 1 Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute IRCCS E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy.,3 Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, Rovereto, Trento, Italy
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Stel M, van Dijk E, van Baaren RB. When and Why Mimicry is Facilitated and Attenuated. SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY COMPASS 2016. [DOI: 10.1111/spc3.12269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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Jacquet PO, Roy AC, Chambon V, Borghi AM, Salemme R, Farnè A, Reilly KT. Changing ideas about others' intentions: updating prior expectations tunes activity in the human motor system. Sci Rep 2016; 6:26995. [PMID: 27243157 PMCID: PMC4886635 DOI: 10.1038/srep26995] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2015] [Accepted: 05/10/2016] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Predicting intentions from observing another agent's behaviours is often thought to depend on motor resonance - i.e., the motor system's response to a perceived movement by the activation of its stored motor counterpart, but observers might also rely on prior expectations, especially when actions take place in perceptually uncertain situations. Here we assessed motor resonance during an action prediction task using transcranial magnetic stimulation to probe corticospinal excitability (CSE) and report that experimentally-induced updates in observers' prior expectations modulate CSE when predictions are made under situations of perceptual uncertainty. We show that prior expectations are updated on the basis of both biomechanical and probabilistic prior information and that the magnitude of the CSE modulation observed across participants is explained by the magnitude of change in their prior expectations. These findings provide the first evidence that when observers predict others' intentions, motor resonance mechanisms adapt to changes in their prior expectations. We propose that this adaptive adjustment might reflect a regulatory control mechanism that shares some similarities with that observed during action selection. Such a mechanism could help arbitrate the competition between biomechanical and probabilistic prior information when appropriate for prediction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pierre O. Jacquet
- Evolution and Social Cognition Group, Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives (LNC), Département d’Etudes Cognitives, INSERM U960, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, F-75005 Paris, France
- Evolution and Social Cognition Group, Institut Jean Nicod, Département d’Etudes Cognitives, CNRS UMR8129, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, F-75005 Paris, France
| | - Alice C. Roy
- Dynamique Du Langage, CNRS UMR 5596, University Lumières Lyon II, 69363 Lyon, France
| | - Valérian Chambon
- Evolution and Social Cognition Group, Institut Jean Nicod, Département d’Etudes Cognitives, CNRS UMR8129, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, F-75005 Paris, France
- Department of Neuroscience, Biotech Campus-University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Anna M. Borghi
- Department of Psychology, Bologna University, 40127 Bologna, Italy
- Institute of Sciences and Technologies of Cognition, CNR, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Roméo Salemme
- ImpAct Team, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center CRNL, INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, & Hospices Civils de Lyon, Neuro-immersion & Mouvement et Handicap, 69675 Bron, France
- University Claude Bernard Lyon I, 69100 Villeurbanne, France
| | - Alessandro Farnè
- ImpAct Team, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center CRNL, INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, & Hospices Civils de Lyon, Neuro-immersion & Mouvement et Handicap, 69675 Bron, France
- University Claude Bernard Lyon I, 69100 Villeurbanne, France
| | - Karen T. Reilly
- ImpAct Team, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center CRNL, INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, & Hospices Civils de Lyon, Neuro-immersion & Mouvement et Handicap, 69675 Bron, France
- University Claude Bernard Lyon I, 69100 Villeurbanne, France
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