Brain Activation Patterns Characterizing Different Phases of Motor Action: Execution, Choice and Ideation

Abstract

Motor behaviour is controlled by a large set of interacting neural structures, subserving the different components involved in hierarchical motor processes. Few studies have investigated the neural substrate of higher-order motor ideation, i.e. the mental operation of conceiving a movement. The aim of this functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) study was to segregate the neural structures involved in motor ideation from those involved in movement choice and execution. An index finger movement paradigm was adopted, including three different conditions: performing a pre-specified movement, choosing and executing a movement and ideating a movement of choice.The tasks involved either the right or left hand, in separate runs. Neuroimaging results were obtained by comparing the different experimental conditions and computing conjunction maps of the right and left hands for each contrast. Pre-specified movement execution was supported by bilateral fronto-parietal motor regions, the cerebellum and putamen. Choosing and executing finger movement involved mainly left fronto-temporal areas and the anterior cingulate. Motor ideation activated almost exclusively left hemisphere regions, including the inferior, middle and superior frontal regions, middle temporal and middle occipital gyri. These findings show that motor ideation is controlled by a cortical network mainly involved in abstract thinking, cognitive and motor control, semantic and visual imagery processes.

When it is not primary progressive aphasia: A scoping review of spoken language impairment in other neurodegenerative dementias

“…Evidence from both PD and FTD suggest that such deficits are associated with changes in the frontostriatal motor network. [97][98] We identified only four studies looking at the language profile of EOAD, 79,80,81,82 with mixed reports over the presence of language dysfunction. One study showed impaired comprehension for words, sentences, and commands, 81 while another described a patient who developed full aphasia.…”

Proactive engagement of cognitive control modulates implicit approach-avoidance bias

“…Thus, such decrease in activation is associated with more careful behavioral adjustment in response to the social stimulus, presumably to minimize error (i.e., executing the opposite action). Specifically, premotor areas (BA 6) and anterior cingulate cortex have been shown to activate parametrically to the neural computations of goal-directed actions (Fincham, Carter, Van Veen, Stenger, & Anderson, 2002;Gardini et al, 2016), while superior temporal regions have been robustly involved in visuo-spatial processing supporting motor planning (Hanakawa, Dimyan, & Hallett, 2008;Shah-Basak, Chen, Caulfield, Medina, & Hamilton, 2018). Overall, this is consistent with the down-regulation of a spatial processing and motor planning neural network likely to track the mental set of the prepotent stimulus-response behavior.…”

The Effects of Tai Chi Intervention on Healthy Elderly by Means of Neuroimaging and EEG: A Systematic Review

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