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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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Chiappini E, Turrini S, Zanon M, Marangon M, Borgomaneri S, Avenanti A. Driving Hebbian plasticity over ventral premotor-motor projections transiently enhances motor resonance. Brain Stimul 2024; 17:211-220. [PMID: 38387557 DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2024.02.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2023] [Revised: 12/23/2023] [Accepted: 02/16/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Making sense of others' actions relies on the activation of an action observation network (AON), which maps visual information about observed actions onto the observer's motor system. This motor resonance process manifests in the primary motor cortex (M1) as increased corticospinal excitability finely tuned to the muscles engaged in the observed action. Motor resonance in M1 is facilitated by projections from higher-order AON regions. However, whether manipulating the strength of AON-to-M1 connectivity affects motor resonance remains unclear. METHODS We used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in 48 healthy humans. Cortico-cortical paired associative stimulation (ccPAS) was administered over M1 and the ventral premotor cortex (PMv), a key AON node, to induce spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) in the pathway connecting them. Single-pulse TMS assessed motor resonance during action observation. RESULTS Before ccPAS, action observation increased corticospinal excitability in the muscles corresponding to the observed movements, reflecting motor resonance in M1. Notably, ccPAS aimed at strengthening projections from PMv to M1 (PMv→M1) induced short-term enhancement of motor resonance. The enhancement specifically occurred with the ccPAS configuration consistent with forward PMv→M1 projections and dissipated 20 min post-stimulation; ccPAS administered in the reverse order (M1→PMv) and sham stimulation did not affect motor resonance. CONCLUSIONS These findings provide the first evidence that inducing STDP to strengthen PMv input to M1 neurons causally enhances muscle-specific motor resonance in M1. Our study sheds light on the plastic mechanisms that shape AON functionality and demonstrates that exogenous manipulation of AON connectivity can influence basic mirror mechanisms that underlie social perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emilio Chiappini
- Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Vienna, 1010, Vienna, Austria; Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, 47521, Cesena, Italy; Department of Psychology and Neurosciences, Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo), 44139, Dortmund, Germany.
| | - Sonia Turrini
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, 47521, Cesena, Italy; Precision Neuroscience & Neuromodulation Program, Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02114, United States
| | - Marco Zanon
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, 47521, Cesena, Italy; Neuroscience Area, International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), 34136, Trieste, Italy
| | - Mattia Marangon
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, 47521, Cesena, Italy; Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Biomedicina e Scienze del Movimento, Sezione di Fisiologia e Psicologia, Università di Verona, 37124, Verona, Italy
| | - Sara Borgomaneri
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, 47521, Cesena, Italy
| | - Alessio Avenanti
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, 47521, Cesena, Italy; Centro de Investigación en Neuropsicología y Neurociencias Cognitivas (CINPSI Neurocog), Universidad Católica Del Maule, 346000, Talca, Chile.
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Dolfini E, Cardellicchio P, Fadiga L, D'Ausilio A. The role of dorsal premotor cortex in joint action inhibition. Sci Rep 2024; 14:4675. [PMID: 38409309 PMCID: PMC10897189 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-54448-4] [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: 08/04/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2024] [Indexed: 02/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Behavioral interpersonal coordination requires smooth negotiation of actions in time and space (joint action-JA). Inhibitory control may play a role in fine-tuning appropriate coordinative responses. To date, little research has been conducted on motor inhibition during JA and on the modulatory influence that premotor areas might exert on inhibitory control. Here, we used an interactive task in which subjects were required to reach and open a bottle using one hand. The bottle was held and stabilized by a co-actor (JA) or by a mechanical holder (vice clamp, no-JA). We recorded two TMS-based indices of inhibition (short-interval intracortical inhibition-sICI; cortical silent period-cSP) during the reaching phase of the task. These reflect fast intracortical (GABAa-mediated) and slow corticospinal (GABAb-mediated) inhibition. Offline continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) was used to interfere with dorsal premotor cortex (PMd), ventral premotor cortex (PMv), and control site (vertex) before the execution of the task. Our results confirm a dissociation between fast and slow inhibition during JA coordination and provide evidence that premotor areas drive only slow inhibitory mechanisms, which in turn may reflect behavioral co-adaptation between trials. Exploratory analyses further suggest that PMd, more than PMv, is the key source of modulatory drive sculpting movements, according to the socio-interactive context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Dolfini
- Department of Neurosciences and Rehabilitation Section of Physiology, Università di Ferrara, Via Fossato di Mortara, 17-19, 44121, Ferrara, Italy.
| | - Pasquale Cardellicchio
- Department of Neurosciences and Rehabilitation Section of Physiology, Università di Ferrara, Via Fossato di Mortara, 17-19, 44121, Ferrara, Italy
- Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Unit, IRCCS Istituto Giannina Gaslini, Genoa, Italy
| | - Luciano Fadiga
- IIT@UniFe Center for Translational Neurophysiology, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Fossato di Mortara, 17-19, 44121, Ferrara, Italy
- Department of Neurosciences and Rehabilitation Section of Physiology, Università di Ferrara, Via Fossato di Mortara, 17-19, 44121, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Alessandro D'Ausilio
- IIT@UniFe Center for Translational Neurophysiology, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Fossato di Mortara, 17-19, 44121, Ferrara, Italy
- Department of Neurosciences and Rehabilitation Section of Physiology, Università di Ferrara, Via Fossato di Mortara, 17-19, 44121, Ferrara, Italy
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Borgomaneri S, Vitale F, Battaglia S, de Vega M, Avenanti A. Task-related modulation of motor response to emotional bodies: A TMS motor-evoked potential study. Cortex 2024; 171:235-246. [PMID: 38096756 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.10.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2023] [Revised: 09/19/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 02/12/2024]
Abstract
Exposure to emotional body postures during perceptual decision-making tasks has been linked to transient suppression of motor reactivity, supporting the monitoring of emotionally relevant information. However, it remains unclear whether this effect occurs implicitly, i.e., when emotional information is irrelevant to the task. To investigate this issue, we used single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to assess motor excitability while healthy participants were asked to categorize pictures of body expressions as emotional or neutral (emotion recognition task) or as belonging to a male or a female actor (gender recognition task) while receiving TMS over the motor cortex at 100 and 125 ms after picture onset. Results demonstrated that motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) were reduced for emotional body postures relative to neutral postures during the emotion recognition task. Conversely, MEPs increased for emotional body postures relative to neutral postures during the gender recognition task. These findings indicate that motor inhibition, contingent upon observing emotional body postures, is selectively associated with actively monitoring emotional features. In contrast, observing emotional body postures prompts motor facilitation when task-relevant features are non-emotional. These findings contribute to embodied cognition models that link emotion perception and action tendencies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Borgomaneri
- Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, Cesena, Italy.
| | - Francesca Vitale
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia (IUNE), Universidad de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
| | - Simone Battaglia
- Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, Cesena, Italy
| | - Manuel de Vega
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia (IUNE), Universidad de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
| | - Alessio Avenanti
- Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, Cesena, Italy; Centro de Investigación en Neuropsicología y Neurosciencias Cognitivas, Universidad Católica Del Maule, Talca, Chile.
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5
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Al Shrbaji T, Bou-Assaf M, Andias R, Silva AG. A single session of action observation therapy versus observing a natural landscape in adults with chronic neck pain - a randomized controlled trial. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 2023; 24:983. [PMID: 38114952 PMCID: PMC10729350 DOI: 10.1186/s12891-023-07070-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2023] [Accepted: 11/27/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Action observation (AO) has emerged as a potential neurorehabilitation therapy for patients with neck pain (NP), but evidence of its effectiveness is scarce. This study aims to assess the effect of a single session of AO when compared to observing a natural landscape on NP intensity, fear of movement, fear-avoidance beliefs, neck muscles' strength, pressure pain threshold, and tactile acuity. METHODS Sixty participants with NP were randomly allocated to the AO group (n = 30) or control group (n = 30). Both groups watched an 11-minute video: the AO group watched a video of a person matched for age and sex performing neck exercises, while the control group watched a video of natural landscapes. Neck pain intensity, fear of movement, fear-avoidance beliefs, tactile acuity, pressure pain thresholds, and neck muscle strength were assessed both at baseline and post-intervention. General linear models of repeated measures (ANCOVA of two factors) were used to explore between-group differences at post-intervention. RESULTS There was a significant main effect of time for pain intensity (p = 0.02; η2p = 0.09; within-group mean change and 95% CI: AO=-1.44 (-2.28, -0.59); control=-1.90 (-2.74, -1.06), but no time versus group interaction (p = 0.46). A time versus group significant interaction was found for one out of the six measurement sites of two-point discrimination and the neck flexors strength (p < 0.05) favoring the control group. No other statistically significant differences were found for the remaining variables). CONCLUSIONS Results suggest a similar acute benefit for both a single session of AO and observing natural landscapes for promoting hypoalgesia, but no impact on kinesiophobia, fear-avoidance beliefs, or pressure pain thresholds. Also, AO had no positive effect on two-point discrimination and muscle strength. Further research is needed, with longer interventions. TRIAL REGISTRATION Clinialtrials.gov (NCT05078489).
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Affiliation(s)
- Tala Al Shrbaji
- School of Health Sciences, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, Aveiro, 3800-193, Portugal
| | - Mário Bou-Assaf
- School of Health Sciences, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, Aveiro, 3800-193, Portugal
| | - Rosa Andias
- CINTESIS.RISE@UA, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, Aveiro, 3810-193, Portugal
| | - Anabela G Silva
- CINTESIS.RISE@UA, School of Health Sciences, University of Aveiro, Edifício 30, Agras do Crasto - Campus Universitário de Santiago, Aveiro, 3810-193, Portugal.
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6
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Rizzo G, Martino D, Avanzino L, Avenanti A, Vicario CM. Social cognition in hyperkinetic movement disorders: a systematic review. Soc Neurosci 2023; 18:331-354. [PMID: 37580305 DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2023.2248687] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2022] [Revised: 07/10/2023] [Accepted: 08/09/2023] [Indexed: 08/16/2023]
Abstract
Numerous lines of research indicate that our social brain involves a network of cortical and subcortical brain regions that are responsible for sensing and controlling body movements. However, it remains unclear whether movement disorders have a systematic impact on social cognition. To address this question, we conducted a systematic review examining the influence of hyperkinetic movement disorders (including Huntington disease, Tourette syndrome, dystonia, and essential tremor) on social cognition. Following the PRISMA guidelines and registering the protocol in the PROSPERO database (CRD42022327459), we analyzed 50 published studies focusing on theory of mind (ToM), social perception, and empathy. The results from these studies provide evidence of impairments in ToM and social perception in all hyperkinetic movement disorders, particularly during the recognition of negative emotions. Additionally, individuals with Huntington's Disease and Tourette syndrome exhibit empathy disorders. These findings support the functional role of subcortical structures (such as the basal ganglia and cerebellum), which are primarily responsible for movement disorders, in deficits related to social cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gaetano Rizzo
- Dipartimento di Scienze Cognitive, Psicologiche, Pedagogiche e degli studi culturali, Università di Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Davide Martino
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Laura Avanzino
- Department of Experimental Medicine, Section of Human Physiology, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
| | - Alessio Avenanti
- Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Cesena, Italy
- Centro de Investigación en Neuropsicología y Neurociencias Cognitivas, Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca, Chile
| | - Carmelo Mario Vicario
- Dipartimento di Scienze Cognitive, Psicologiche, Pedagogiche e degli studi culturali, Università di Messina, Messina, Italy
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Cristiano A, Finisguerra A, Urgesi C, Avenanti A, Tidoni E. Functional role of the theory of mind network in integrating mentalistic prior information with action kinematics during action observation. Cortex 2023; 166:107-120. [PMID: 37354870 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.05.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2022] [Revised: 02/27/2023] [Accepted: 05/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/26/2023]
Abstract
Inferring intentions from verbal and nonverbal human behaviour is critical for everyday social life. Here, we combined Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) with a behavioural priming paradigm to test whether key nodes of the Theory of Mind network (ToMn) contribute to understanding others' intentions by integrating prior knowledge about an agent with the observed action kinematics. We used a modified version of the Faked-Action Discrimination Task (FAD), a forced-choice paradigm in which participants watch videos of actors lifting a cube and judge whether the actors are trying to deceive them concerning the weight of the cube. Videos could be preceded or not by verbal description (prior) about the agent's truthful or deceitful intent. We applied single pulse TMS over three key nodes of the ToMn, namely dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), right posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) and right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ). Sham-TMS served as a control (baseline) condition. Following sham or rTPJ stimulation, we observed no consistent influence of priors on FAD performance. In contrast, following dmPFC stimulation, and to a lesser extent pSTS stimulation, truthful and deceitful actions were perceived as more deceptive only when the prior suggested a dishonest intention. These findings highlight a functional role of dmPFC and pSTS in coupling prior knowledge about deceptive intents with observed action kinematics in order to judge faked actions. Our study provides causal evidence that fronto-temporal nodes of the ToMn are functionally relevant to mental state inference during action observation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Azzurra Cristiano
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome and CLN(2)S@Sapienza, Italian Institute of Technology, Rome, Italy; IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy.
| | | | - Cosimo Urgesi
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Neuropsychiatry and Neurorehabilitation Unit, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy; Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, Udine, Italy
| | - Alessio Avenanti
- Department of Psychology, Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy; Centro de Investigación en Neuropsicología y Neurociencias Cognitivas, Universidad Católica Del Maule, Talca, Chile.
| | - Emmanuele Tidoni
- Human Technology Laboratory, School of Psychology and Social Work, University of Hull, Hull, UK; School of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
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Ferrari E, Butti N, Gagliardi C, Romaniello R, Borgatti R, Urgesi C. Cognitive predictors of Social processing in congenital atypical development. J Autism Dev Disord 2023; 53:3343-3355. [PMID: 35729297 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-022-05630-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/27/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
According to current accounts of social cognition, the emergence of verbal and non-verbal components of social perception might rely on the acquisition of different cognitive abilities. These components might be differently sensitive to the pattern of neuropsychological impairments in congenital neurodevelopmental disorders. Here, we explored the association between social and non-social cognitive domains by administering subtests of the NEPSY-II battery to 92 patients with Intellectual and Developmental Disability (IDD). Regardless the level of intellectual functioning and presence of congenital brain malformations, results revealed that visuospatial skills predicted emotion recognition and verbal component of Theory of Mind, whereas imitation predicted the non-verbal one. Future interventions might focus on spatial and sensorimotor abilities to boost the development of social cognition in IDD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisabetta Ferrari
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Neuropsychiatry and Neurorehabilitation Unit, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy.
| | - Niccolò Butti
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Neuropsychiatry and Neurorehabilitation Unit, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
- PhD Program in Neural and Cognitive Sciences, Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
| | - Chiara Gagliardi
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Neuropsychiatry and Neurorehabilitation Unit, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
- SPAEE, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy
| | - Romina Romaniello
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Neuropsychiatry and Neurorehabilitation Unit, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
| | - Renato Borgatti
- IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Cosimo Urgesi
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Neuropsychiatry and Neurorehabilitation Unit, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, Udine, Italy
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9
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Moreau Q, Parrotta E, Pesci UG, Era V, Candidi M. Early categorization of social affordances during the visual encoding of bodily stimuli. Neuroimage 2023; 274:120151. [PMID: 37191657 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2022] [Revised: 04/27/2023] [Accepted: 04/30/2023] [Indexed: 05/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Interpersonal interactions rely on various communication channels, both verbal and non-verbal, through which information regarding one's intentions and emotions are perceived. Here, we investigated the neural correlates underlying the visual processing of hand postures conveying social affordances (i.e., hand-shaking), compared to control stimuli such as hands performing non-social actions (i.e., grasping) or showing no movement at all. Combining univariate and multivariate analysis on electroencephalography (EEG) data, our results indicate that occipito-temporal electrodes show early differential processing of stimuli conveying social information compared to non-social ones. First, the amplitude of the Early Posterior Negativity (EPN, an Event-Related Potential related to the perception of body parts) is modulated differently during the perception of social and non-social content carried by hands. Moreover, our multivariate classification analysis (MultiVariate Pattern Analysis - MVPA) expanded the univariate results by revealing early (<200 ms) categorization of social affordances over occipito-parietal sites. In conclusion, we provide new evidence suggesting that the encoding of socially relevant hand gestures is categorized in the early stages of visual processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Q Moreau
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy; IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy.
| | - E Parrotta
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy; IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - U G Pesci
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy; IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - V Era
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy; IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - M Candidi
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy; IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy.
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10
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Turrini S, Bevacqua N, Cataneo A, Chiappini E, Fiori F, Battaglia S, Romei V, Avenanti A. Neurophysiological Markers of Premotor-Motor Network Plasticity Predict Motor Performance in Young and Older Adults. Biomedicines 2023; 11:biomedicines11051464. [PMID: 37239135 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines11051464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2023] [Revised: 05/08/2023] [Accepted: 05/12/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Aging is commonly associated with a decline in motor control and neural plasticity. Tuning cortico-cortical interactions between premotor and motor areas is essential for controlling fine manual movements. However, whether plasticity in premotor-motor circuits predicts hand motor abilities in young and elderly humans remains unclear. Here, we administered transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) and primary motor cortex (M1) using the cortico-cortical paired-associative stimulation (ccPAS) protocol to manipulate the strength of PMv-to-M1 connectivity in 14 young and 14 elderly healthy adults. We assessed changes in motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) during ccPAS as an index of PMv-M1 network plasticity. We tested whether the magnitude of MEP changes might predict interindividual differences in performance in two motor tasks that rely on premotor-motor circuits, i.e., the nine-hole pegboard test and a choice reaction task. Results show lower motor performance and decreased PMv-M1 network plasticity in elderly adults. Critically, the slope of MEP changes during ccPAS accurately predicted performance at the two tasks across age groups, with larger slopes (i.e., MEP increase) predicting better motor performance at baseline in both young and elderly participants. These findings suggest that physiological indices of PMv-M1 plasticity could provide a neurophysiological marker of fine motor control across age-groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sonia Turrini
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestriari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy
- Precision Neuroscience & Neuromodulation Program, Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Naomi Bevacqua
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestriari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Sapienza Università di Roma, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Antonio Cataneo
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestriari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy
| | - Emilio Chiappini
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestriari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy
- Institut für Klinische und Gesundheitspsychologie, Universität Wien, 1010 Vienna, Austria
| | - Francesca Fiori
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestriari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy
- NeXT: Unità di Ricerca di Neurofisiologia e Neuroingegneria dell'Interazione Uomo-Tecnologia, Dipartimento di Medicina, Università Campus Bio-Medico, 00128 Rome, Italy
| | - Simone Battaglia
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestriari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy
| | - Vincenzo Romei
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestriari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy
| | - Alessio Avenanti
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestriari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy
- Centro de Investigación en Neuropsicología y Neurociencias Cognitivas, Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca 346000, Chile
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11
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Turrini S, Fiori F, Chiappini E, Lucero B, Santarnecchi E, Avenanti A. Cortico-cortical paired associative stimulation (ccPAS) over premotor-motor areas affects local circuitries in the human motor cortex via Hebbian plasticity. Neuroimage 2023; 271:120027. [PMID: 36925088 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2022] [Revised: 03/09/2023] [Accepted: 03/13/2023] [Indexed: 03/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies have shown that cortico-cortical paired associative stimulation (ccPAS) can strengthen connectivity between the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) and the primary motor cortex (M1) by modulating convergent input over M1 via Hebbian spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP). However, whether ccPAS locally affects M1 activity remains unclear. We tested 60 right-handed young healthy humans in two studies, using a combination of dual coil TMS and ccPAS over the left PMv and M1 to probe and manipulate PMv-to-M1 connectivity, and single- and paired-pulse TMS to assess neural activity within M1. We provide convergent evidence that ccPAS, relying on repeated activations of excitatory PMv-to-M1 connections, acts locally over M1. During ccPAS, motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) induced by paired PMv-M1 stimulation gradually increased. Following ccPAS, the threshold for inducing MEPs of different amplitudes decreased, and the input-output curve (IO) slope increased, highlighting increased M1 corticospinal excitability. Moreover, ccPAS reduced the magnitude of short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI), reflecting suppression of GABA-ergic interneuronal mechanisms within M1, without affecting intracortical facilitation (ICF). These changes were specific to ccPAS Hebbian strengthening of PMv-to-M1 connectivity, as no modulations were observed when reversing the order of the PMv-M1 stimulation during a control ccPAS protocol. These findings expand prior ccPAS research that focused on the malleability of cortico-cortical connectivity at the network-level, and highlight local changes in the area of convergent activation (i.e., M1) during plasticity induction. These findings provide new mechanistic insights into the physiological basis of ccPAS that are relevant for protocol optimization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sonia Turrini
- Centro studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Cesena Campus, Cesena 47521, Italy; Precision Neuroscience & Neuromodulation Program, Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, United States.
| | - Francesca Fiori
- Centro studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Cesena Campus, Cesena 47521, Italy; NeXT: Neurophysiology and Neuro-Engineering of Human-Technology Interaction Research Unit, Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome 00128, Italy
| | - Emilio Chiappini
- Centro studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Cesena Campus, Cesena 47521, Italy; Institut für Klinische und Gesundheitspsychologie, Universität Wien, Vienna 1010, Austria
| | - Boris Lucero
- Centro de Investigación en Neuropsicología y Neurociencias Cognitivas (CINPSI Neurocog), Universidad Católica Del Maule, Talca 346000, Chile
| | - Emiliano Santarnecchi
- Precision Neuroscience & Neuromodulation Program, Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, United States
| | - Alessio Avenanti
- Centro studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Cesena Campus, Cesena 47521, Italy; Centro de Investigación en Neuropsicología y Neurociencias Cognitivas (CINPSI Neurocog), Universidad Católica Del Maule, Talca 346000, Chile.
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12
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Villatte J, Taconnat L, Bidet-Ildei C, Toussaint L. The role of implicit motor simulation on action verb memory. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2023; 87:441-451. [PMID: 35316393 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-022-01671-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2021] [Accepted: 03/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Observation is known to improve memory for action. Previous findings linked such an effect with an easier relation processing of action components following observation compared to mere sentence reading. However, action observation also elicits implicit motor simulation, that is a processing of one's movement through the observer own motor system. We aimed to assess whether encoding of implicit motor simulation can also explain why observation is better than reading for action memory. To prevent influence of item relation processing, two studies about isolated action verbs learning were designed. In Experiment 1, action verbs were encoded with short videos of point-light human movements or with written definitions. Subsequent free recall indicated better memory for the verbs within the video clip condition. Experiment 2 compared two encoding conditions based on point-light human movement videos. Half of the verbs were learned with their normal corresponding movement (biological kinematic). For the other half of the verbs, the velocity of point-light movements was modified to create abnormal nonbiological kinematic actions. We observed better free recall for the verbs learned with biological kinematics. Taken together, those results suggest that action observation is beneficial because it allows the encoding of motor-related information (implicit motor simulation). Semantic resonance between linguistic and motor representations of action could also contribute to memory improvement. Contrary to previous studies, our results cannot be explained by an improvement of items relation processing. However, it suggests that the basic level of action verb memory is sensorimotor perception, such as implicit motor simulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jérémy Villatte
- Département de Psychologie, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition et l'Apprentissage (UMR 7295), Université de Poitiers, Bâtiment A5, 5 rue Théodore Lefebvre TSA 21110, 86073, Poitiers cedex 9, France.
| | - Laurence Taconnat
- Département de Psychologie, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition et l'Apprentissage (UMR, 7295), Université de Tours, Tours, France
| | - Christel Bidet-Ildei
- Département des Sciences du Sport, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition et l'Apprentissage (UMR 7295), Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France
| | - Lucette Toussaint
- Département des Sciences du Sport, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition et l'Apprentissage (UMR 7295), Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France
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13
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West AM, Huber ME, Hogan N. Role of path information in visual perception of joint stiffness. PLoS Comput Biol 2022; 18:e1010729. [PMID: 36441792 PMCID: PMC9731484 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010729] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2022] [Revised: 12/08/2022] [Accepted: 11/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans have an astonishing ability to extract hidden information from the movement of others. In previous work, subjects observed the motion of a simulated stick-figure, two-link planar arm and estimated its stiffness. Fundamentally, stiffness is the relation between force and displacement. Given that subjects were unable to physically interact with the simulated arm, they were forced to make their estimates solely based on observed kinematic information. Remarkably, subjects were able to correctly correlate their stiffness estimates with changes in the simulated stiffness, despite the lack of force information. We hypothesized that subjects were only able to do this because the controller used to produce the simulated arm's movement, composed of oscillatory motions driving mechanical impedances, resembled the controller humans use to produce their own movement. However, it is still unknown what motion features subjects used to estimate stiffness. Human motion exhibits systematic velocity-curvature patterns, and it has previously been shown that these patterns play an important role in perceiving and interpreting motion. Thus, we hypothesized that manipulating the velocity profile should affect subjects' ability to estimate stiffness. To test this, we changed the velocity profile of the simulated two-link planar arm while keeping the simulated joint paths the same. Even with manipulated velocity signals, subjects were still able to estimate changes in simulated joint stiffness. However, when subjects were shown the same simulated path with different velocity profiles, they perceived motions that followed a veridical velocity profile to be less stiff than that of a non-veridical profile. These results suggest that path information (displacement) predominates over temporal information (velocity) when humans use visual observation to estimate stiffness.
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Affiliation(s)
- A. Michael West
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Meghan E. Huber
- Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Neville Hogan
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
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14
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Kemmerer D. Revisiting the relation between syntax, action, and left BA44. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 16:923022. [PMID: 36211129 PMCID: PMC9537576 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.923022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2022] [Accepted: 09/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Among the many lines of research that have been exploring how embodiment contributes to cognition, one focuses on how the neural substrates of language may be shared, or at least closely coupled, with those of action. This paper revisits a particular proposal that has received considerable attention—namely, that the forms of hierarchical sequencing that characterize both linguistic syntax and goal-directed action are underpinned partly by common mechanisms in left Brodmann area (BA) 44, a cortical region that is not only classically regarded as part of Broca’s area, but is also a core component of the human Mirror Neuron System. First, a recent multi-participant, multi-round debate about this proposal is summarized together with some other relevant findings. This review reveals that while the proposal is supported by a variety of theoretical arguments and empirical results, it still faces several challenges. Next, a narrower application of the proposal is discussed, specifically involving the basic word order of subject (S), object (O), and verb (V) in simple transitive clauses. Most languages are either SOV or SVO, and, building on prior work, it is argued that these strong syntactic tendencies derive from how left BA44 represents the sequential-hierarchical structure of goal-directed actions. Finally, with the aim of clarifying what it might mean for syntax and action to have “common” neural mechanisms in left BA44, two different versions of the main proposal are distinguished. Hypothesis 1 states that the very same neural mechanisms in left BA44 subserve some aspects of hierarchical sequencing for syntax and action, whereas Hypothesis 2 states that anatomically distinct but functionally parallel neural mechanisms in left BA44 subserve some aspects of hierarchical sequencing for syntax and action. Although these two hypotheses make different predictions, at this point neither one has significantly more explanatory power than the other, and further research is needed to elaborate and test them.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Kemmerer
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IND, United States
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IND, United States
- *Correspondence: David Kemmerer,
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15
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Spaccasassi C, Zanon M, Borgomaneri S, Avenanti A. Mu rhythm and corticospinal excitability capture two different frames of motor resonance: A TMS/EEG co-registration study. Cortex 2022; 154:197-211. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.04.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2021] [Revised: 03/28/2022] [Accepted: 04/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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16
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Brain Dynamics of Action Monitoring in Higher-Order Motor Control Disorders: The Case of Apraxia. eNeuro 2022; 9:ENEURO.0334-20.2021. [PMID: 35105660 PMCID: PMC8896553 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0334-20.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2020] [Revised: 12/05/2021] [Accepted: 12/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Limb apraxia (LA) refers to a high-order motor disorder characterized by the inability to reproduce transitive actions on commands or after observation. Studies demonstrate that action observation and action execution activate the same networks in the human brain, and provides an onlooker’s motor system with appropriate cognitive, motor and sensory-motor cues to flexibly implementing action-sequences and gestures. Tellingly, the temporal dynamics of action monitoring has never been explored in people suffering from LA. To fill this gap, we studied the electro-cortical signatures of error observation in human participants suffering from acquired left-brain lesions with (LA+) and without (LA–) LA, and in a group of healthy controls (H). EEG was acquired while participants observed from a first-person perspective (1PP) an avatar performing correct or incorrect reach-to-grasp a glass action in an immersive-virtual environment. Alterations of typical EEG signatures of error observation in time (early error positivity; Pe) and time-frequency domain (theta band-power) were found reduced in LA+ compared with H. Connectivity analyses showed that LA+ exhibited a decreased theta phase synchronization of both the frontoparietal and frontofrontal network, compared with H and LA–. Moreover, linear regression analysis revealed that the severity of LA [test of upper LA (TULIA) scores] was predicted by mid-frontal error-related theta activity, suggesting a link between error monitoring capacity and apraxic phenotypes. These results provide novel neurophysiological evidence of altered neurophysiological dynamics of action monitoring in individuals with LA and shed light on the performance monitoring changes occurring in this disorder.
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17
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Ferrari C, Ciricugno A, Battelli L, Grossman ED, Cattaneo Z. Distinct cerebellar regions for body motion discrimination. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2022; 17:72-80. [PMID: 31820788 PMCID: PMC8824544 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsz088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2019] [Revised: 09/15/2019] [Accepted: 10/31/2019] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Visual processing of human movements is critical for adaptive social behavior. Cerebellar activations have been observed during biological motion discrimination in prior neuroimaging studies, and cerebellar lesions may be detrimental for this task. However, whether the cerebellum plays a causal role in biological motion discrimination has never been tested. Here, we addressed this issue in three different experiments by interfering with the posterior cerebellar lobe using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) during a biological discrimination task. In Experiments 1 and 2, we found that TMS delivered at onset of the visual stimuli over the vermis (vermal lobule VI), but not over the left cerebellar hemisphere (left lobule VI/Crus I), interfered with participants' ability to distinguish biological from scrambled motion compared to stimulation of a control site (vertex). Interestingly, when stimulation was delivered at a later time point (300 ms after stimulus onset), participants performed worse when TMS was delivered over the left cerebellar hemisphere compared to the vermis and the vertex (Experiment 3). Our data show that the posterior cerebellum is causally involved in biological motion discrimination and suggest that different sectors of the posterior cerebellar lobe may contribute to the task at different time points.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Andrea Ciricugno
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia 27100, Italy
- IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia 27100, Italy
| | - Lorella Battelli
- Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Rovereto 38068, Italy
- Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, Harvard Medical School, Boston 02155, MA, USA
| | - Emily D Grossman
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine 92617, CA, USA
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18
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He M, He X, Zheng Z, Deng J, Wu C. The impact of action observation and motor imagery on the aesthetic preference of Chinese calligraphy. Psych J 2021; 11:645-655. [PMID: 34779588 DOI: 10.1002/pchj.488] [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: 09/28/2020] [Revised: 06/08/2021] [Accepted: 09/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
The creation of artwork requires motor activity. However, few empirical studies have directly explored the relationship between the experience of an artist's action and aesthetic experience. This study aimed to examine the effect of observing and imagery of the artist's action on the participants' aesthetic preferences. In Experiment 1 and 2, we took hard-pen and brush-pen Chinese calligraphy images as the stimulus, respectively, to explore the influence of action observation on the aesthetic preference by manipulating the artists' actions. The results of both Experiment 1 and 2 show that when participants observed the artists' actions, they tended to report a higher preference for calligraphy images compared with the control condition. In Experiments 3 and 4, we used instructions to manipulate the motor imagery tasks and investigated the effect of imaging the artist's action on the participants' aesthetic preferences. The results showed that both kinesthetic imagery and visual imagery increased the participants' preference. In general, our study shows that both action observation and motor imagery contribute to participants' aesthetic preferences. The results are discussed in terms of how artists' actions possibly influence the aesthetic preference of Chinese calligraphy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mingcheng He
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China.,School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.,Center for the Study of Applied Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.,Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Xianyou He
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China.,School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.,Center for the Study of Applied Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.,Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Zixin Zheng
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China.,School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.,Center for the Study of Applied Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.,Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jiamin Deng
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China.,School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.,Center for the Study of Applied Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.,Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Chenjing Wu
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China.,School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.,Center for the Study of Applied Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.,Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
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19
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Urgesi C, Butti N, Finisguerra A, Biffi E, Valente EM, Romaniello R, Borgatti R. Social prediction in pediatric patients with congenital, non-progressive malformations of the cerebellum: From deficits in predicting movements to rehabilitation in virtual reality. Cortex 2021; 144:82-98. [PMID: 34662720 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2021.08.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2021] [Revised: 07/19/2021] [Accepted: 08/05/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
It has been proposed that impairments of the predictive function exerted by the cerebellum may account for social cognition deficits. Here, we integrated cerebellar functions in a predictive coding framework to elucidate how congenital, non-progressive cerebellar alterations could affect the predictive processing of others' behavior. Experiment 1 demonstrated that cerebellar patients were impaired in relying on contextual information during prediction of other persons' movement, and this impairment was significantly associated with social cognition abilities. Experiment 2 indicated that children and adolescents with congenital, non-progressive cerebellar malformation showed a domain-general deficit in using contextual information to predict both others' movements and physical events, and that this impairment was independent from patients' cognitive abilities. Experiment 3 provided first evidence that a social-prediction training in virtual reality could boost the ability to use context-based predictions to understand others' intentions. These findings shed new light on the predictive role of the cerebellum and its contribution to social cognition, paving the way for new approaches to the rehabilitation of the Cerebellar Cognitive Affective Syndrome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cosimo Urgesi
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Neuropsychiatry and Neurorehabilitation Unit, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy; Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, Italy
| | - Niccolò Butti
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Neuropsychiatry and Neurorehabilitation Unit, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy; PhD Program in Neural and Cognitive Sciences, Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Italy.
| | | | - Emilia Biffi
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Bioengineering Lab, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
| | - Enza Maria Valente
- IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy; Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Romina Romaniello
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Neuropsychiatry and Neurorehabilitation Unit, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
| | - Renato Borgatti
- IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy; Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
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20
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Borgomaneri S, Vitale F, Battaglia S, Avenanti A. Early Right Motor Cortex Response to Happy and Fearful Facial Expressions: A TMS Motor-Evoked Potential Study. Brain Sci 2021; 11:brainsci11091203. [PMID: 34573224 PMCID: PMC8471632 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11091203] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2021] [Revised: 09/08/2021] [Accepted: 09/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to rapidly process others' emotional signals is crucial for adaptive social interactions. However, to date it is still unclear how observing emotional facial expressions affects the reactivity of the human motor cortex. To provide insights on this issue, we employed single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to investigate corticospinal motor excitability. Healthy participants observed happy, fearful and neutral pictures of facial expressions while receiving TMS over the left or right motor cortex at 150 and 300 ms after picture onset. In the early phase (150 ms), we observed an enhancement of corticospinal excitability for the observation of happy and fearful emotional faces compared to neutral expressions specifically in the right hemisphere. Interindividual differences in the disposition to experience aversive feelings (personal distress) in interpersonal emotional contexts predicted the early increase in corticospinal excitability for emotional faces. No differences in corticospinal excitability were observed at the later time (300 ms) or in the left M1. These findings support the notion that emotion perception primes the body for action and highlights the role of the right hemisphere in implementing a rapid and transient facilitatory response to emotional arousing stimuli, such as emotional facial expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Borgomaneri
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy;
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00179 Rome, Italy
- Correspondence: (S.B.); (A.A.)
| | - Francesca Vitale
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia (IUNE), Universidad de La Laguna, 38200 Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain;
| | - Simone Battaglia
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy;
| | - Alessio Avenanti
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy;
- Centro de Investigación en Neuropsicología y Neurosciencias Cognitivas, Universidad Católica Del Maule, Talca 3460000, Chile
- Correspondence: (S.B.); (A.A.)
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21
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Differential Influence of the Dorsal Premotor and Primary Somatosensory Cortex on Corticospinal Excitability during Kinesthetic and Visual Motor Imagery: A Low-Frequency Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study. Brain Sci 2021; 11:brainsci11091196. [PMID: 34573217 PMCID: PMC8465986 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11091196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2021] [Revised: 08/31/2021] [Accepted: 09/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Consistent evidence suggests that motor imagery involves the activation of several sensorimotor areas also involved during action execution, including the dorsal premotor cortex (dPMC) and the primary somatosensory cortex (S1). However, it is still unclear whether their involvement is specific for either kinesthetic or visual imagery or whether they contribute to motor activation for both modalities. Although sensorial experience during motor imagery is often multimodal, identifying the modality exerting greater facilitation of the motor system may allow optimizing the functional outcomes of rehabilitation interventions. In a sample of healthy adults, we combined 1 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to suppress neural activity of the dPMC, S1, and primary motor cortex (M1) with single-pulse TMS over M1 for measuring cortico-spinal excitability (CSE) during kinesthetic and visual motor imagery of finger movements as compared to static imagery conditions. We found that rTMS over both dPMC and S1, but not over M1, modulates the muscle-specific facilitation of CSE during kinesthetic but not during visual motor imagery. Furthermore, dPMC rTMS suppressed the facilitation of CSE, whereas S1 rTMS boosted it. The results highlight the differential pattern of cortico-cortical connectivity within the sensorimotor system during the mental simulation of the kinesthetic and visual consequences of actions.
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22
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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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Era V, Carnevali L, Thayer JF, Candidi M, Ottaviani C. Dissociating cognitive, behavioral and physiological stress-related responses through dorsolateral prefrontal cortex inhibition. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2021; 124:105070. [PMID: 33310375 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.105070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2020] [Revised: 10/29/2020] [Accepted: 11/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) has been implicated in the regulation of stress-related cognitive processes and physiological responses and is the principal target of noninvasive brain stimulation techniques applied to psychiatric conditions. However, existing studies are mostly correlational and causal evidence on the role of this region in mediating specific psychophysiological mechanisms underpinning stress-related responses are needed to make the application of such techniques more efficient. To fill this gap, this study used inhibitory continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) in healthy individuals to examine the extent to which activity of the left dlPFC is associated with cognitive (subjective focus on a tracking task), behavioral (reaction times and variability), and physiological responses (heart rate and its variability and cortisol level) following induction of perseverative cognition. Compared to sham and left ventral PreMotor area stimulation (as active control area), inhibition of left dlPFC determined sustained autonomic and neuroendocrine activation and increased the subjective perception of being task-focused, while not changing the behavioral and self-reported stress-related responses. Adopting a causative approach, we describe a role of left dlPFC in inhibitory control of the physiological stress-response associated to perseverative thinking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vanessa Era
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy; IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
| | - Luca Carnevali
- Stress Physiology Lab, Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Italy
| | - Julian F Thayer
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Matteo Candidi
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy; IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
| | - Cristina Ottaviani
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy; IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy.
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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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Vitale F, Padrón I, Avenanti A, de Vega M. Enhancing Motor Brain Activity Improves Memory for Action Language: A tDCS Study. Cereb Cortex 2020; 31:1569-1581. [PMID: 33136142 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2019] [Revised: 08/17/2020] [Accepted: 08/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The embodied cognition approach to linguistic meaning posits that action language understanding is grounded in sensory-motor systems. However, evidence that the human motor cortex is necessary for action language memory is meager. To address this issue, in two groups of healthy individuals, we perturbed the left primary motor cortex (M1) by means of either anodal or cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), before participants had to memorize lists of manual action and attentional sentences. In each group, participants received sham and active tDCS in two separate sessions. Following anodal tDCS (a-tDCS), participants improved the recall of action sentences compared with sham tDCS. No similar effects were detected following cathodal tDCS (c-tDCS). Both a-tDCS and c-tDCS induced variable changes in motor excitability, as measured by motor-evoked potentials induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation. Remarkably, across groups, action-specific memory improvements were positively predicted by changes in motor excitability. We provide evidence that excitatory modulation of the motor cortex selectively improves performance in a task requiring comprehension and memory of action sentences. These findings indicate that M1 is necessary for accurate processing of linguistic meanings and thus provide causal evidence that high-order cognitive functions are grounded in the human motor system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Vitale
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia, Universidad de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 38200, Spain
| | - Iván Padrón
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia, Universidad de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 38200, Spain
| | - Alessio Avenanti
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna, Cesena 47521, Italy
- Centro de Investigación en Neuropsicología y Neurociencias Cognitivas, Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca 3460000, Chile
| | - Manuel de Vega
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia, Universidad de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 38200, Spain
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26
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Decroix J, Borgomaneri S, Kalénine S, Avenanti A. State-dependent TMS of inferior frontal and parietal cortices highlights integration of grip configuration and functional goals during action recognition. Cortex 2020; 132:51-62. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2020] [Revised: 07/09/2020] [Accepted: 08/06/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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27
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Borgomaneri S, Vitale F, Avenanti A. Early motor reactivity to observed human body postures is affected by body expression, not gender. Neuropsychologia 2020; 146:107541. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107541] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2020] [Revised: 06/06/2020] [Accepted: 06/19/2020] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
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Cracco E, Keysers C, Clauwaert A, Brass M. Representing Multiple Observed Actions in the Motor System. Cereb Cortex 2020; 29:3631-3641. [PMID: 30295709 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhy237] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2018] [Revised: 08/27/2018] [Accepted: 08/31/2018] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
There is now converging evidence that others' actions are represented in the motor system. However, social cognition requires us to represent not only the actions but also the interactions of others. To do so, it is imperative that the motor system can represent multiple observed actions. The current fMRI study investigated whether this is possible by measuring brain activity from 29 participants while they observed 2 right hands performing sign language gestures. Three key results were obtained. First, brain activity in the premotor and parietal motor cortex was stronger when 2 hands performed 2 different gestures than when 1 hand performed a single gesture. Second, both individual observed gestures could be decoded from brain activity in the same 2 regions. Third, observing 2 different gestures compared with 2 identical gestures activated brain areas related to motor conflict, and this activity was correlated with parietal motor activity. Together, these results show that the motor system is able to represent multiple observed actions, and as such reveal a potential mechanism by which third-party social encounters could be processed in the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emiel Cracco
- Ghent University, Department of Experimental Psychology, Gent, Belgium
| | - Christian Keysers
- Royal Netherlands Academy of Art and Sciences (KNAW), Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, BA Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Amanda Clauwaert
- Ghent University, Department of Experimental Psychology, Gent, Belgium
| | - Marcel Brass
- Ghent University, Department of Experimental Psychology, Gent, Belgium
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29
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Simon JC, Styczynski N, Gutsell JN. Social perceptions of warmth and competence influence behavioral intentions and neural processing. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2020; 20:265-275. [PMID: 31965474 PMCID: PMC7220095 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-019-00767-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Perceptions of the primary social dimensions, warmth and competence, determine how we view and relate to social targets. To discern how warmth and competence might affect neural processing and its downstream behavioral consequences, we manipulated impressions of targets' warmth and competence and then measured intentions toward the target and motor resonance, a neural process previously linked to social processing. While EEG was recorded, 66 participants watched videos of people performing a simple motor activity and completed a measure of hypothetical intentions to help or harm. Both perceptions of warmth and competence predicted an increase in helping intentions. Moreover, participants showed the least motor resonance with high competence-medium warmth targets, suggesting the importance of both social dimensions in driving neural simulation of targets' actions. Perceptions of a person's warmth and competence can affect not only how others might intend to treat them, but also how they might process their basic experiences on a neural level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy C Simon
- Psychology Department, Brandeis University, MS062, 415 South Street, Waltham, MA, 02453, USA.
| | - Nadya Styczynski
- Psychology Department, Brandeis University, MS062, 415 South Street, Waltham, MA, 02453, USA
| | - Jennifer N Gutsell
- Psychology Department, Brandeis University, MS062, 415 South Street, Waltham, MA, 02453, USA
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30
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Blocking facial mimicry affects recognition of facial and body expressions. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0229364. [PMID: 32078668 PMCID: PMC7032686 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229364] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2019] [Accepted: 02/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Facial mimicry is commonly defined as the tendency to imitate-at a sub-threshold level-facial expressions of other individuals. Numerous studies support a role of facial mimicry in recognizing others' emotions. However, the underlying functional mechanism is unclear. A prominent hypothesis considers facial mimicry as based on an action-perception loop, leading to the prediction that facial mimicry should be observed only when processing others' facial expressions. Nevertheless, previous studies have also detected facial mimicry during observation of emotional bodily expressions. An emergent alternative hypothesis is that facial mimicry overtly reflects the simulation of an "emotion", rather than the reproduction of a specific observed motor pattern. In the present study, we tested whether blocking mimicry ("Bite") on the lower face disrupted recognition of happy expressions conveyed by either facial or body expressions. In Experiment 1, we tested participants' ability to identify happy, fearful and neutral expressions in the Bite condition and in two control conditions. In Experiment 2, to ensure that such a manipulation selectively affects emotion recognition, we tested participants' ability to recognize emotional expressions, as well as the actors' gender, under the Bite condition and a control condition. Finally, we investigated the relationship between dispositional empathy and emotion recognition under the condition of blocked mimicry. Our findings demonstrated that blocking mimicry on the lower face hindered recognition of happy facial and body expressions, while the recognition of neutral and fearful expressions was not affected by the mimicry manipulation. The mimicry manipulation did not affect the gender discrimination task. Furthermore, the impairment of happy expression recognition correlated with empathic traits. These results support the role of facial mimicry in emotion recognition and suggest that facial mimicry reflects a global sensorimotor simulation of others' emotions rather than a muscle-specific reproduction of an observed motor expression.
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31
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Midline frontal and occipito-temporal activity during error monitoring in dyadic motor interactions. Cortex 2020; 127:131-149. [PMID: 32197149 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.01.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2019] [Revised: 12/17/2019] [Accepted: 01/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Discrepancies between sensory predictions and action outcome are at the base of error coding. However, these phenomena have mainly been studied focussing on individual performance. Here, we explored EEG responses to motor prediction errors during a human-avatar interaction and show that Theta/Alpha activity of the frontal error-monitoring system works in phase with activity of the occipito-temporal node of the action observation network. Our motor interaction paradigm required healthy individuals to synchronize their reach-to-grasp movements with those of a virtual partner in conditions that did (Interactive) or did not require (Cued) movement prediction and adaptation to the partner's actions. Crucially, in 30% of the trials the virtual partner suddenly and unpredictably changed its movement trajectory thereby violating the human participant's expectation. These changes elicited error-related neuromarkers (ERN/Pe - Theta/Alpha modulations) over fronto-central electrodes during the Interactive condition. Source localization and connectivity analyses showed that the frontal Theta/Alpha activity induced by violations of the expected interactive movements was in phase with occipito-temporal Theta/Alpha activity. These results expand current knowledge about the neural correlates of on-line interpersonal motor interactions linking the frontal error-monitoring system to visual, body motion-related, responses.
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32
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Nunes AS, Kozhemiako N, Moiseev A, Seymour RA, Cheung TPL, Ribary U, Doesburg SM. Neuromagnetic activation and oscillatory dynamics of stimulus-locked processing during naturalistic viewing. Neuroimage 2019; 216:116414. [PMID: 31794854 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2019] [Revised: 10/21/2019] [Accepted: 11/27/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Naturalistic stimuli such as watching a movie while in the scanner provide an ecologically valid paradigm that has the potential of extracting valuable information on how the brain processes complex stimuli in realistic visual and auditory contexts. Naturalistic viewing is also easier to conduct with challenging participant groups including patients and children. Given the high temporal resolution of MEG, in the present study, we demonstrate how a short movie clip can be used to map distinguishable activation and connectivity dynamics underlying the processing of specific classes of visual stimuli such as face and hand manipulations, as well as contrasting activation dynamics for auditory words and non-words. MEG data were collected from 22 healthy volunteers (6 females, 3 left handed, mean age - 27.7 ± 5.28 years) during the presentation of naturalistic audiovisual stimuli. The MEG data were split into trials with the onset of the stimuli belonging to classes of interest (words, non-words, faces, hand manipulations). Based on the components of the averaged sensor ERFs time-locked to the visual and auditory stimulus onset, four and three time-windows, respectively, were defined to explore brain activation dynamics. Pseudo-Z, defined as the ratio of the source-projected time-locked power to the projected noise power for each vertex, was computed and used as a proxy of time-locked brain activation. Statistical testing using the mean-centered Partial Least Squares analysis indicated periods where a given visual or auditory stimuli had higher activation. Based on peak pseudo-Z differences between the visual conditions, time-frequency resolved analyses were performed to assess beta band desynchronization in motor-related areas, and inter-trial phase synchronization between face processing areas. Our results provide the first evidence that activation and connectivity dynamics in canonical brain regions associated with the processing of particular classes of visual and auditory stimuli can be reliably mapped using MEG during presentation of naturalistic stimuli. Given the strength of MEG for brain mapping in temporal and frequency domains, the use of naturalistic stimuli may open new techniques in analyzing brain dynamics during ecologically valid sensation and perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adonay S Nunes
- Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada.
| | - Nataliia Kozhemiako
- Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
| | - Alexander Moiseev
- Behavioral & Cognitive Neuroscience Institute, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
| | - Robert A Seymour
- Aston Brain Centre, School of Life and Health Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, UK; Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
| | - Teresa P L Cheung
- School of Engineering Science, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
| | - Urs Ribary
- Behavioral & Cognitive Neuroscience Institute, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada; Department Pediatrics and Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; B.C. Children's Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
| | - Sam M Doesburg
- Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada; Behavioral & Cognitive Neuroscience Institute, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
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Fino E, Menegatti M, Avenanti A, Rubini M. Unfolding political attitudes through the face: facial expressions when reading emotion language of left- and right-wing political leaders. Sci Rep 2019; 9:15689. [PMID: 31666575 PMCID: PMC6821753 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-51858-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2019] [Accepted: 10/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Spontaneous emotionally congruent facial responses (ECFR) to others’ emotional expressions can occur by simply observing others’ faces (i.e., smiling) or by reading emotion related words (i.e., to smile). The goal of the present study was to examine whether language describing political leaders’ emotions affects voters by inducing emotionally congruent facial reactions as a function of readers’ and politicians’ shared political orientation. Participants read sentences describing politicians’ emotional expressions, while their facial muscle activation was measured by means of electromyography (EMG). Results showed that reading sentences describing left and right-wing politicians “smiling” or “frowning” elicits ECFR for ingroup but not outgroup members. Remarkably, ECFR were sensitive to attitudes toward individual leaders beyond the ingroup vs. outgroup political divide. Through integrating behavioral and physiological methods we were able to consistently tap on a ‘favored political leader effect’ thus capturing political attitudes towards an individual politician at a given moment of time, at multiple levels (explicit responses and automatic ECFR) and across political party membership lines. Our findings highlight the role of verbal behavior of politicians in affecting voters’ facial expressions with important implications for social judgment and behavioral outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edita Fino
- Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine (DIMES), Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. .,Department of Department of Sociology, Psychology and Education, University Marin Barleti, Tirana, Albania.
| | - Michela Menegatti
- Department of Psychology, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, 40126, Bologna, Italy
| | - Alessio Avenanti
- Department of Psychology, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, 40126, Bologna, Italy.,Centro de Investigación en Neuropsicología y Neurociencias Cognitivas, Universidad Católica del Maule, 3460000, Talca, Chile
| | - Monica Rubini
- Department of Psychology, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, 40126, Bologna, Italy
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Anticipatory postural adjustments during joint action coordination. Sci Rep 2019; 9:12328. [PMID: 31444405 PMCID: PMC6707290 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-48758-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2019] [Accepted: 08/05/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
There is a current claim that humans are able to effortlessly detect others’ hidden mental state by simply observing their movements and transforming the visual input into motor knowledge to predict behaviour. Using a classical paradigm quantifying motor predictions, we tested the role of vision feedback during a reach and load-lifting task performed either alone or with the help of a partner. Wrist flexor and extensor muscle activities were recorded on the supporting hand. Early muscle changes preventing limb instabilities when participants performed the task by themselves revealed the contribution of the visual input in postural anticipation. When the partner performed the unloading, a condition mimicking a split-brain situation, motor prediction followed a pattern evolving along the task course and changing with the integration of successive somatosensory feedback. Our findings demonstrate that during social behaviour, in addition to self-motor representations, individuals cooperate by continuously integrating sensory signals from various sources.
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Early Brain Damage Affects Body Schema and Person Perception Abilities in Children and Adolescents with Spastic Diplegia. Neural Plast 2019; 2019:1678984. [PMID: 31531012 PMCID: PMC6721097 DOI: 10.1155/2019/1678984] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2019] [Accepted: 07/24/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Early brain damage leading to cerebral palsy is associated to core motor impairments and also affects cognitive and social abilities. In particular, previous studies have documented specific alterations of perceptual body processing and motor cognition that are associated to unilateral motor deficits in hemiplegic patients. However, little is known about spastic diplegia (SpD), which is characterized by motorial deficits involving both sides of the body and is often associated to visuospatial, attentional, and social perception impairments. Here, we compared the performance of a sample of 30 children and adolescents with SpD (aged 7-18 years) and of a group of age-matched controls with typical development (TD) at two different tasks tapping on body representations. In the first task, we tested visual and motor imagery abilities as assessed, respectively, by the object-based mental rotation of letters and by the first-person transformations for whole-body stimuli. In the second task, we administered an inversion effect/composite illusion task to evaluate the use of configural/holistic processing of others' body. Additionally, we assessed social perception abilities in the SpD sample using the NEPSY-II battery. In line with previously reported visuospatial deficits, a general mental imagery impairment was found in SpD patients when they were engaged in both object-centered and first-person mental transformations. Nevertheless, a specific deficit in operating an own-body transformation emerged. As concerns body perception, while more basic configural processing (i.e., inversion effect) was spared, no evidence for holistic (i.e., composite illusion) body processing was found in the SpD group. NEPSY-II assessment revealed that SpD children were impaired in both the theory of mind and affect recognition subtests. Overall, these findings suggested that early brain lesions and biased embodied experience could affect higher-level motor cognition and perceptual body processing, thus pointing to a strict link between motor deficits, body schema alterations, and person processing difficulties.
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Era V, Candidi M, Aglioti SM. Contextual and social variables modulate aesthetic appreciation of bodily and abstract art stimuli. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2019; 199:102881. [PMID: 31352258 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.102881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2018] [Revised: 06/28/2019] [Accepted: 07/01/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite the increasing interest in the plasticity of aesthetic appreciation, we know comparatively little about the role of individuals' cultural (e.g. the appreciators' expertise) and of social emotional-cognitive (e.g. the social influence of people perceived as warm or competent) variables in modulating the appreciation process. In two experiments we investigated 1) whether people with different art-expertise are influenced differently by contextual (i.e. stimuli primed as art) and social (i.e. stimuli rated as beautiful by art-critics) information and 2) whether acknowledging the judgment of a person perceived as warm or as competent has a different influence on individuals' aesthetic appreciation of art works. Warmth and competence are two social dimensions of fundamental importance for categorizing others as in-group or out-group (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002). We found that insinuating that the observed works were pieces of art, highly appreciated by art critics, lead expert participants to judge the stimuli as more beautiful in comparison to when the very same stimuli were not preceded by any manipulation. Moreover, we found that both art-experts and non-experts rated the stimuli as more beautiful when they believed it to be highly appreciated by people perceived as warm vs people perceived as competent. These results provide novel information on the plasticity of aesthetics and pave the way to understanding how tastes and preferences in the domain of aesthetics can be influenced.
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Abstract
While the contribution of social processes to pain perception is well documented, surprisingly little is known about the influence of pain on social perception. In particular, an important question is how pain modulates the processing of other people's actions. To address this question, the current study tests, using automatic imitation, the hypothesis that pain interferes with motor simulation-that is, the processing of observed actions in the motor system. Participants in both experiments performed an automatic imitation task requiring them to abduct their index or little finger while they saw someone else performing either a congruent or incongruent action. Automatic imitation was measured in a pain-free context, a context where pain was coupled to the execution of a movement (experiment 1), and a context where pain occurred randomly (experiment 2). The results revealed that automatic imitation, indexed by slower responses on incongruent compared with congruent trials, was reduced when experiencing pain, both when pain was linked to movement execution and when it was not. Thus, the current study shows that pain leads to reduced motor processing of others' behavior and, as such, has important implications for understanding the social difficulties associated with pain.
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de Vega M, Padrón I, Moreno IZ, García-Marco E, Domínguez A, Marrero H, Hernández S. Both the mirror and the affordance systems might be impaired in adults with high autistic traits. Evidence from EEG mu and beta rhythms. Autism Res 2019; 12:1032-1042. [PMID: 31066522 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2018] [Accepted: 04/15/2019] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
The association of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with an altered mirror neuron system is still controversial. At the same time, the processing of object affordances by persons with ASD is a neglected issue. In this electroencephalographic study, adults differing in their autism quotient (AQ) scores were selected. We found anomalous modulation of mu and beta rhythms in high-AQ, compared to low-AQ persons, while they watched a set of goal-directed manual actions. This confirms that observing actions involving implicit intentions most clearly reveals the impairment of the mirror neurons system (MNS). The high-AQ group also showed anomalous mu and beta modulation when they looked at pictures of manipulable objects, indicating a deficit in processing motor affordances. We conclude that high-AQ adults have neural impairment of both the MNS and the affordance systems, which could underlie their relational problems with both people and objects. Autism Res 2019, 12: 1032-1042. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: Adults with autistic traits (high-autism quotient [AQ] scores) and matched controls (low-AQ) observed intentional hand actions, and pictures of manipulable and non-manipulable objects. The high-AQ group compared to the control group, showed anomalous modulation of the electroencephalographic motoric rhythms (mu and beta) while observing familiar goal-directed actions, confirming an impairment of their mirror neuron system. Also, their brain rhythms were anomalous when they watched manipulable objects, which suggest a dysfunction in their relation with objects (affordance system).
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel de Vega
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia, Universidad de La Laguna, Edificio Neurocog, Campus de Guajara, La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, CP 38200, Spain
| | - Iván Padrón
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia, Universidad de La Laguna, Edificio Neurocog, Campus de Guajara, La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, CP 38200, Spain
| | - Iván Z Moreno
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia, Universidad de La Laguna, Edificio Neurocog, Campus de Guajara, La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, CP 38200, Spain
| | - Enrique García-Marco
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia, Universidad de La Laguna, Edificio Neurocog, Campus de Guajara, La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, CP 38200, Spain
| | - Alberto Domínguez
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia, Universidad de La Laguna, Edificio Neurocog, Campus de Guajara, La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, CP 38200, Spain
| | - Hipólito Marrero
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia, Universidad de La Laguna, Edificio Neurocog, Campus de Guajara, La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, CP 38200, Spain
| | - Sergio Hernández
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia, Universidad de La Laguna, Edificio Neurocog, Campus de Guajara, La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, CP 38200, Spain
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Anticipation of wheelchair and rollerblade actions in spinal cord injured people, rollerbladers, and physiotherapists. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0213838. [PMID: 30875399 PMCID: PMC6420014 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0213838] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2018] [Accepted: 03/03/2019] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Embodied Cognition Theories (ECT) postulate that higher-order cognition is heavily influenced by sensorimotor signals. We explored the active role of somatosensory afferents and motor efferents in modulating the perception of actions in people who have suffered a massive body-brain disconnection because of spinal cord injury (SCI), which leads to sensory-motor loss below the lesion. We assessed whether the habitual use of a wheelchair enhances the capacity to anticipate the endings of tool-related actions, with respect to actions that have become impossible. In a Temporal Occlusion task, three groups of participants (paraplegics, rollerbladers and physiotherapists) observed two sets of videos depicting an actor who attempted to climb onto a platform using a wheelchair or rollerblades. Three different outcomes were possible, namely: a) success (the actor went up the step); b) fail (the actor stopped before the step without going up) and c) fall (the actor fell without going up). Each video set comprised 5 different durations increasing in complexity: in the shortest (600ms) only preparatory body movements were shown and in the longest (3000ms) the complete action was shown. The participants were requested to anticipate the outcome (success, fail, fall). The main result showed that the SCI group performed better with the wheelchair videos and poorer with rollerblade videos than both groups, even if the physiotherapists group never used rollerblades. In line with the ECT, this suggests that the action anticipation skills are not only influenced by motor expertise, but also by motor connection.
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40
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Manuweera T, Yarossi M, Adamovich S, Tunik E. Parietal Activation Associated With Target-Directed Right Hand Movement Is Lateralized by Mirror Feedback to the Ipsilateral Hemisphere. Front Hum Neurosci 2019; 12:531. [PMID: 30687047 PMCID: PMC6333851 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00531] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2018] [Accepted: 12/17/2018] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Current research shows promise in restoring impaired hand function after stroke with the help of Mirror Visual Feedback (MVF), putatively by facilitating activation of sensorimotor areas of the brain ipsilateral to the moving limb. However, the MVF related clinical effects show variability across studies. MVF tasks that have been used place varying amounts of visuomotor demand on one’s ability to complete the task. Therefore, we ask here whether varying visuomotor demand during MVF may translate to differences in brain activation patterns. If so, we argue that this may provide a mechanistic explanation for variable clinical effects. To address this, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the interaction of target directed movement and MVF on the activation of, and functional connectivity between, regions within the visuomotor network. In an event-related fMRI design, twenty healthy subjects performed finger flexion movements using their dominant right hand, with feedback presented in a virtual reality (VR) environment. Visual feedback was presented in real time VR as either veridical feedback with and without a target (VT+ and VT-, respectively), or MVF with and without a target (MT+ and MT-, respectively). fMRI contrasts revealed predominantly activation in the ipsilateral intraparietal sulcus for the main effect of MVF and bilateral superior parietal activation for the main effect of target. Importantly, we noted significant and robust activation lateralized to the ipsilateral parietal cortex alone in the MT+ contrast with respect to the other conditions. This suggests that combining MVF with targeted movements performed using the right hand may redirect enhanced bilateral parietal activation due to target presentation to the ipsilateral cortex. Moreover, functional connectivity analysis revealed that the interaction between the ipsilateral parietal lobe and the motor cortex was significantly greater during target-directed movements with mirror feedback compared to veridical feedback. These findings provide a normative basis to investigate the integrity of these networks in patient populations. Identification of the brain regions involved in target directed movement with MVF in stroke may have important implications for optimal delivery of MVF based therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thushini Manuweera
- Rutgers School of Graduate Studies, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, United States.,Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, United States
| | - Mathew Yarossi
- Department of Physical Therapy, Movement, and Rehabilitation Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Sergei Adamovich
- Rutgers School of Graduate Studies, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, United States.,Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, United States
| | - Eugene Tunik
- Department of Physical Therapy, Movement, and Rehabilitation Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States.,Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States
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41
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Paracampo R, Montemurro M, de Vega M, Avenanti A. Primary motor cortex crucial for action prediction: A tDCS study. Cortex 2018; 109:287-302. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2018.09.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2017] [Revised: 09/02/2018] [Accepted: 09/16/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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42
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Jospe K, Flöel A, Lavidor M. The interaction between embodiment and empathy in facial expression recognition. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2018; 13:203-215. [PMID: 29378022 PMCID: PMC5827354 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsy005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2017] [Accepted: 01/21/2018] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Previous research has demonstrated that the Action-Observation Network (AON) is involved in both emotional-embodiment (empathy) and action-embodiment mechanisms. In this study, we hypothesized that interfering with the AON will impair action recognition and that this impairment will be modulated by empathy levels. In Experiment 1 (n = 90), participants were asked to recognize facial expressions while their facial motion was restricted. In Experiment 2 (n = 50), we interfered with the AON by applying transcranial Direct Current Stimulation to the motor cortex. In both experiments, we found that interfering with the AON impaired the performance of participants with high empathy levels; however, for the first time, we demonstrated that the interference enhanced the performance of participants with low empathy. This novel finding suggests that the embodiment module may be flexible, and that it can be enhanced in individuals with low empathy by simple manipulation of motor activation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karine Jospe
- Department of Psychology, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel.,The Gonda brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel
| | - Agnes Flöel
- Department of Neurology, University Medicine of Greifswald, 17489 Greifswald, Germany
| | - Michal Lavidor
- Department of Psychology, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel.,The Gonda brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel
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43
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Left inferior parietal and posterior temporal cortices mediate the effect of action observation on semantic processing of objects: evidence from rTMS. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2018; 84:1006-1019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00426-018-1117-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2018] [Accepted: 10/31/2018] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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44
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Marini M, Banaji MR, Pascual-Leone A. Studying Implicit Social Cognition with Noninvasive Brain Stimulation. Trends Cogn Sci 2018; 22:1050-1066. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2018.07.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2018] [Revised: 05/15/2018] [Accepted: 07/20/2018] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
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45
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Amoruso L, Finisguerra A, Urgesi C. Autistic traits predict poor integration between top-down contextual expectations and movement kinematics during action observation. Sci Rep 2018; 8:16208. [PMID: 30385765 PMCID: PMC6212496 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-33827-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2018] [Accepted: 09/28/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism is associated with difficulties in predicting and understanding other people’s actions. There is evidence that autistic traits are distributed across a spectrum and that subclinical forms of autistic impairments can also be measured in the typical population. To investigate the association between autistic traits and motor responses to others’ actions, we quantified these traits and measured cortico-spinal excitability modulations in M1 during the observation of actions embedded in congruent, incongruent and ambiguous contexts. In keeping with previous studies, we found that actions observed in congruent contexts elicited an early facilitation of M1 responses, and actions observed in incongruent contexts, resulted in a later inhibition. Correlational analysis revealed no association between autistic traits and the facilitation for congruent contexts. However, we found a significant correlation between motor inhibition and autistic traits, specifically related to social skills and attention to details. Importantly, the influence of these factors was independent from each other, and from the observer’s gender. Thus, results suggest that individuals with higher social deficits and greater detail-processing style are more impaired in suppressing action simulation in M1 when a mismatch between kinematics and context occurs. This points to difficult integration between kinematics and contextual representations in the autistic-like brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- L Amoruso
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, Udine, Italy. .,Basque Center of Cognition, Brain and Language, San Sebastian, Spain.
| | - A Finisguerra
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS Eugenio Medea, Pasian di Prato, Udine, Italy
| | - C Urgesi
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, Udine, Italy.,Scientific Institute, IRCCS Eugenio Medea, Pasian di Prato, Udine, Italy
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46
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Corti C, Poggi G, Massimino M, Bardoni A, Borgatti R, Urgesi C. Visual perception and spatial transformation of the body in children and adolescents with brain tumor. Neuropsychologia 2018; 120:124-136. [PMID: 30359652 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.10.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2018] [Revised: 10/09/2018] [Accepted: 10/12/2018] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Representations of own and others' body play a crucial role in social interaction. While extensive knowledge has been gathered on the neuropsychological deficits affecting body representation in adult brain lesion patients, little is known on how acquired damage to a developing brain may affect this process. We tested it on pediatric brain tumor survivors, comparing the abilities of 30 children and adolescents (aged 8-16 years) surviving from a supratentorial tumor (STT) or an infratentorial tumor (ITT) in two different tasks of body representation. Thirty children with typical development (TD) served as control group. In the first task, we tested configural (body inversion effect) and holistic (composite illusion effect) processing of others' bodies. In the second task, we tested the ability to perform first-person and object-based mental spatial transformations of own body and external objects, respectively. Configural processing was spared in all patients. Conversely, ITT, but not STT patients, were impaired in the holistic processing of body stimuli. STT patients performed overall worse than both controls and ITT patients at mental spatial transformations of both own body and external objects. ITT children presented selective alteration in using the first-person transformation strategies with body stimuli. Results suggest that body-representation abilities may be heavily affected in pediatric brain tumor survivors. STTs may be associated to greater difficulties in mental visuo-spatial transformation abilities, likely reflecting damage to fronto-parietal circuits. Conversely, ITTs may be associated to specific disturbances of visual body perception abilities that require motor simulation processes, reflecting direct or indirect damage to cerebellar areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Corti
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Neuro-oncological and Neuropsychological Rehabilitation Unit, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy.
| | - Geraldina Poggi
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Neuro-oncological and Neuropsychological Rehabilitation Unit, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
| | - Maura Massimino
- Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Pediatric Oncology Unit, Milano, Italy
| | - Alessandra Bardoni
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Neuro-oncological and Neuropsychological Rehabilitation Unit, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
| | - Renato Borgatti
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Neuropsychiatry and Neurorehabilitation Unit, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
| | - Cosimo Urgesi
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Neuropsychiatry and Neurorehabilitation Unit, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy; Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, San Vito al Tagliamento, Pordenone, Italy; University of Udine, Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, Udine, Italy.
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47
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Controzzi M, Singh H, Cini F, Cecchini T, Wing A, Cipriani C. Humans adjust their grip force when passing an object according to the observed speed of the partner's reaching out movement. Exp Brain Res 2018; 236:3363-3377. [PMID: 30259134 PMCID: PMC6267677 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-018-5381-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2018] [Accepted: 09/18/2018] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
Abstract
The way an object is released by the passer to a partner is fundamental for the success of the handover and for the experienced fluency and quality of the interaction. Nonetheless, although its apparent simplicity, object handover involves a complex combination of predictive and reactive control mechanisms that were not fully investigated so far. Here, we show that passers use visual-feedback based anticipatory control to trigger the beginning of the release, to launch the appropriate motor program, and adapt such predictions to different speeds of the receiver’s reaching out movements. In particular, the passer starts releasing the object in synchrony with the collision with the receiver, regardless of the receiver’s speed, but the passer’s speed of grip force release is correlated with receiver speed. When visual feedback is removed, the beginning of the passer’s release is delayed proportionally with the receiver’s reaching out speed; however, the correlation between the passer’s peak rate of change of grip force is maintained. In a second study with 11 participants receiving an object from a robotic hand programmed to release following stereotypical biomimetic profiles, we found that handovers are experienced as more fluent when they exhibit more reactive release behaviours, shorter release durations, and shorter handover durations. The outcomes from the two studies contribute understanding of the roles of sensory input in the strategy that empower humans to perform smooth and safe handovers, and they suggest methods for programming controllers that would enable artificial hands to hand over objects with humans in an easy, natural and efficient way.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Controzzi
- The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy.
| | - Harmeet Singh
- The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy
| | - Francesca Cini
- The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy
| | | | - Alan Wing
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
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48
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Brouillet D, Michalland AH, Guerineau R, Draushika M, Thebault G. How does simulation of an observed external body state influence categorisation of an easily graspable object? Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2018; 72:1466-1477. [PMID: 30188246 DOI: 10.1177/1747021818801484] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Several works have provided evidence of a resonant motor effect while observing a hand interacting with painful stimuli. The aim of this work is to show that participants are sensitive to the observation of an injured hand when they have to categorise an easily graspable object with their own hand. In Experiment 1, participants indicated whether or not photographs of objects (graspable or non-graspable, left or right oriented) could be grasped with their dominant hand, by tapping a key on a keyboard. Target objects were preceded by primes consisting of photographs of hands (injured vs healthy) in a grasping posture (power grasp). Experiment 2 consisted of two phases: In the first phase, participants had to categorise square or circle shapes. After their response (Group 1: tapping a key vs Group 2: constricting a hand grip), photograph of two types of hand (injured vs healthy) was displayed on the computer screen. In the second phase, participants had to indicate whether objects could be easily grasped with their dominant hand. Target objects were preceded by primes (square and circle) as shown in the first phase. Results show that response times were slower when the graspable target objects were right oriented and preceded by the photograph or a geometric shape associated with an injured hand. This response delay was accentuated in the handgrip condition. These results highlight that the view of an injured hand activates motor programme and pain mechanisms associated with participants relative to the consequences of the simulated grasping action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Denis Brouillet
- 1 Epsylon Laboratory, University Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France
| | - Arthur-Henri Michalland
- 1 Epsylon Laboratory, University Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France.,2 LIRMM, CNRS, Interactive Digital Humans, University Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | | | - Mooruth Draushika
- 1 Epsylon Laboratory, University Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France
| | - Guillaume Thebault
- 1 Epsylon Laboratory, University Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France.,3 SAINBIOSE-INSERM U 1059, Dysfonction Vasculaire et Hémostase, University Jean-Monnet, Saint-Etienne, France
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49
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Visuo-motor interference with a virtual partner is equally present in cooperative and competitive interactions. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2018; 84:810-822. [PMID: 30191316 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-018-1090-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2018] [Accepted: 09/03/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
Automatic imitation of observed actions is thought to be a powerful mechanism, one that may mediate the reward value of interpersonal interactions, but that could also generate visuo-motor interference when interactions involve complementary movements. Since interpersonal coordination seems to be crucial both when cooperating and competing with others, the questions arises as to whether imitation-and thus visuo-motor interference-occurs in both scenarios. To address this issue, we asked human participants to engage in high- or low-interactive (Interactive or Cued condition, respectively), cooperative or competitive, joint reach-to-grasps with a virtual partner. More specifically, interactions occurred in: (i) a Cued condition, where participants simply adapted their movement timing to synchronize with (during cooperation) or anticipate (during competition) the virtual partner's grasp; (ii) an Interactive condition requiring the same adaptation, as well as a real-time selection of their action according to the virtual character's movement. To simulate a realistic human-human interaction, the virtual character would change its movement speed in consecutive trials according to participants' behaviour. Results demonstrate that visuo-motor interference-as indexed by movement kinematics (higher maximum wrist height during complementary compared to imitative power grips)-emerge in both cooperative and competitive motor interactions only when predictions about the partner's movements are needed to perform one's own action (interactive condition). These results support the idea that simulative imitation is heavily present when individuals need to match their behaviours closely.
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50
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Thomas RM, De Sanctis T, Gazzola V, Keysers C. Where and how our brain represents the temporal structure of observed action. Neuroimage 2018; 183:677-697. [PMID: 30165253 PMCID: PMC6215330 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.08.056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2017] [Revised: 08/20/2018] [Accepted: 08/23/2018] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Reacting faster to the behaviour of others provides evolutionary advantages. Reacting to unpredictable events takes hundreds of milliseconds. Understanding where and how the brain represents what actions are likely to follow one another is, therefore, important. Everyday actions occur in predictable sequences, yet neuroscientists focus on how brains respond to unexpected, individual motor acts. Using fMRI, we show the brain encodes sequence-related information in the motor system. Using EEG, we show visual responses are faster and smaller for predictable sequences. We hope this paradigm encourages the field to shift its focus from single acts to motor sequences. It sheds light on how we adapt to the actions of others and suggests that the motor system may implement perceptual predictive coding.
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Affiliation(s)
- R M Thomas
- The Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, An Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - T De Sanctis
- The Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, An Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Amsterdam, the Netherlands; PharmAccess Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - V Gazzola
- The Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, An Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Brain & Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
| | - C Keysers
- The Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, An Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Brain & Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
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