Motor resonance during action observation is gaze-contingent: A TMS study

D’Innocenzo, Giorgia; González, Claudia Cristina Ortega; Nowicky, Alexander V.; Williams, A. Mark; Bishop, Daniel

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.07.017

Cited by 27 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…Thus, one possible reason for the small effect size may be the variation in observation sites and methods that observers used during gait observation. In support of this speculation, several recent TMS studies demonstrated that directing an observer's visual attention to a fixed part of an observed movement or action-relevant object enhances corticospinal excitability during the observation of thumb abduction/adduction movements [59] and hand grasping actions [60][61][62]. Given these definite effects of an observer's overt attention on motor resonance, it can be assumed that the results obtained in this study were also substantially affected by the participants' attention.…”

Section: Effects Of Visual Experience And/or Intention To Imitate On supporting

confidence: 74%

“…The current study has several limitations. Although prior research has revealed that an observer's visual attention can facilitate corticospinal excitability [59][60][61][62], we could not distinguish the effects of visual attention from those of visual experience on primary motor cortex activity in this study. In addition, several brain regions have been reported to be involved in mere action observation and action observation with the intent to imitate [12,64], and changes in corticospinal excitability during action observation would be directly affected by not only the modulation of the primary motor cortex and spinal cord but also the activity of other brain regions [65].…”

Section: Effects Of Visual Experience And/or Intention To Imitate On mentioning

confidence: 62%

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Motor activation is modulated by visual experience during cyclic gait observation: A transcranial magnetic stimulation study

et al. 2020

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Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been widely utilized to noninvasively explore the motor system during the observation of human movement. However, few studies have characterized motor cortex activity during periodic gait observation. Thus, this study examined the effects of an observer's visual experience and/or intention to imitate on corticospinal excitability during the observation of another's gait. Twenty-six healthy volunteers were included in this study and allocated to two different groups. Participants in the visual experience group had formal experience with gait observation (physical therapist training), while those in the control group did not. Motor-evoked potentials induced by TMS in the tibialis anterior and soleus muscles were measured as surrogates of corticospinal excitability. Participants were seated and, while resting, they observed a demonstrator's gait or observed it with the intention to subsequently reproduce it. Compared with the resting state, cyclic gait observation led to significant corticospinal facilitation in the tibialis anterior and soleus muscles. However, this pattern of corticospinal facilitation in the measured muscles was not coupled to the pattern of crural muscle activity during actual gait and was independent of the step cycle. This motor cortex facilitation effect during gait observation was enhanced by the observer's visual experience in a manner that was not step cycle-dependent, while the observer's intent to imitate did not affect corticospinal excitatory input to either muscle. In addition, visual experience did not modulate corticospinal excitability in gait-related crural muscles. Our findings indicate that motor cortex activity during gait observation is not in line with the timing of muscle activity during gait execution and is modulated by an individual's gait observation experience. These results suggest that visual experience acquired from repetitive gait observation may facilitate the motor system's control on bipedal walking, but may not promote the learning of muscle activity patterns.

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Section: Effects Of Visual Experience And/or Intention To Imitate On supporting

confidence: 74%

Section: Effects Of Visual Experience And/or Intention To Imitate On mentioning

confidence: 62%

Motor activation is modulated by visual experience during cyclic gait observation: A transcranial magnetic stimulation study

et al. 2020

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“…A previous study suggested that gaze behaviour during action observation can modulate mirror neuron activity (Maranesi et al 2013), although almost half of recorded PMv mirror neurons in that study did show gaze-independent modulation during observation. A recent TMS study using simple, single finger movements found that gaze fixation at the point of movement facilitated MEPs relative to free gaze (D'Innocenzo et al 2017). Given the more complex movements used in the present task, and trial-to-trial variability of free gaze behaviour, further interpretation of the relationship between eye movements and excitability changes in motor pathways during naturalistic action observation, if present, would require simultaneous recordings.…”

Section: Observation Of Grasp Produces Facilitation At the Spinal Levelmentioning

confidence: 87%

Time-dependent modulation of spinal excitability during action observation in the macaque monkey

Jerjian¹,

Lemon²,

Kraskov³

2019

Preprint

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Neurons in the primate motor cortex, including identified pyramidal tract neurons projecting to the spinal cord, respond to the observation of others' actions, yet this does not cause movement in the observer. Here, we investigated changes in spinal excitability during action observation by monitoring short latency electromyographic responses produced by single shocks delivered directly to the pyramidal tract. Responses in hand and digit muscles were recorded from two adult rhesus macaques while they performed, observed or withheld reachto-grasp and hold actions. We found modest grasp-specific facilitation of hand muscle responses during hand shaping for grasp, which persisted when the grasp was predictable but obscured from the monkey's vision. We also found evidence of a more general inhibition before observed movement onset, and the size of this inhibition effect was comparable to the inhibition after an explicit NoGo signal. These results confirm that the spinal circuitry controlling hand muscles is modulated during action observation, and this may be driven by internal representations of actions. The relatively modest changes in spinal excitability during observation suggest net corticospinal outflow exerts only minor, sub-threshold changes on hand motoneuron pools, thereby preventing any overflow of mirror activity into overt movement.

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“…A recent study by Wright et al found that direction of gaze towards the target object during observation was a significant predictor of increased MEP amplitude 26 . Similarly, D'Innocenzo and colleagues reported that fixation of gaze on a point where maximal detection of biological motion would occur produced increased MEP amplitudes relative to a free gaze condition 27 . Appropriate baseline selection is essential for determining the direction of CSE modulation during action observation, and may partly explain some of the conflicting reports of facilitation or suppression during action observation 9 .…”

Section: Action Execution Recruits Muscles In a Grasp-specific Mannermentioning

confidence: 92%

Top-down contextual requirement to suppress self-movement influences grasp-specific modulation of corticospinal excitability during action observation

Jerjian¹,

Davare

Kraskov

2020

Preprint

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Action observation modulates corticospinal excitability (CSE) measured via TMS in humans, which presumably exposes the effect of mirror neuron activation on corticospinal pathways. These responses can consist of both facilitation and suppression, and the balance of these two may restrict the outflow of activity into movement. Evidence also suggests that task context can considerably influence CSE changes during action observation.Here, we assessed whether embedding action observation within a Go-NoGo paradigm, which emphasizes movement withholding on observation and NoGo trials, influenced CSE modulation. Fourteen healthy subjects received single pulse TMS over left primary motor cortex (M1) during a baseline period, grasp observation onset, or after a NoGo cue, while performing, observing, or withholding two distinct reach-to-grasp actions. We assessed modulation of MEPs in three intrinsic hand muscles, which were recruited in a grasp-specific manner during action execution.Although CSE during the task generally increased relative to a pre-task baseline, modulation of grasp observation MEPs relative to an intra-task baseline was limited, and predominantly suppressive in nature both during grasp and NoGo. Seven subjects performed the same task without the NoGo condition (“Go only” block) immediately before the “Go & NoGo” block. Although this still failed to produce overall facilitation, we found evidence for grasp-specific modulation of CSE, which matched the recruitment pattern of the muscles during action execution. Within these subjects, modulation was attenuated when the NoGo condition was introduced, but was still distinct from modulation in the first group.These results suggest that bottom-up grasp-specific modulation of MEPs during action observation is attenuated by the top-down contextual requirement to suppress self-movement, and facilitation and suppression effects may be determined by the balance between these two processes.

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Motor resonance during action observation is gaze-contingent: A TMS study

Cited by 27 publications

References 65 publications

Motor activation is modulated by visual experience during cyclic gait observation: A transcranial magnetic stimulation study

Motor activation is modulated by visual experience during cyclic gait observation: A transcranial magnetic stimulation study

Time-dependent modulation of spinal excitability during action observation in the macaque monkey

Top-down contextual requirement to suppress self-movement influences grasp-specific modulation of corticospinal excitability during action observation

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