Corticospinal Excitability Modulation During Action Observation

Sartori, Luisa; Betti, Sonia; Castiello, Umberto

doi:10.3791/51001

Cited by 18 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…A finding in accordance with behavioral (Bertenthal, Longo, & Kosobud, 2006;Liepelt et al, 2010) and neurophysiological (Press, Bird, Walsh, & Heyes, 2008) studies showing motor facilitation effects for transitive as well as intransitive actions . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 15 Moreover, the present findings extends previous evidence on response preparation in hand muscles (Newman-Norlund, Noordzij, Meulenbroek, & Bekkering, 2007;Ocampo & Kritikos, 2010;Sartori, Cavallo, Bucchioni, & Castiello, 2011b, 2012bSartori, Betti, & Castiello, 2013a, 2013bSartori et al, 2013c) showing a modulation of CS excitability also when the observed action calls for a gesture involving different body parts with respect to the observed ones. In the present study, observers' upper limb muscles were activated while observing a soccer player kicking a ball straight in their direction.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

The multiform motor cortical output: Kinematic, predictive and response coding

Sartori

Betti

Chinellato

et al. 2015

Cortex

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Observing actions performed by others entails a subliminal activation of primary motor cortex reflecting the components encoded in the observed action. One of the most debated issues concerns the role of this output: Is it a mere replica of the incoming flow of information (kinematic coding), is it oriented to anticipate the forthcoming events (predictive coding) or is it aimed at responding in a suitable fashion to the actions of others (response coding)? The aim of the present study was to disentangle the relative contribution of these three levels and unify them into an integrated view of cortical motor coding. We combined transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and electromyography recordings at different timings to probe the excitability of corticospinal projections to upper and lower limb muscles of participants observing a soccer player performing:(i) a penalty kick straight in their direction and then coming to a full stop, (ii) a penalty kick straight in their direction and then continuing to run, (iii) a penalty kick to the side and then continuing to run. The results show a modulation of the observer's corticospinal excitability in different effectors at different times reflecting a multiplicity of motor coding. The internal replica of the observed action, the predictive activation, and the adaptive integration of congruent and non-congruent responses to the actions of others can coexist in a not mutually exclusive way. Such a view offers reconciliation among different (and apparently divergent) frameworks in action observation literature, and will promote a more complete and integrated understanding of recent findings on motor simulation, motor resonance and automatic imitation.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

The multiform motor cortical output: Kinematic, predictive and response coding

Sartori

Betti

Chinellato

et al. 2015

Cortex

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“…Particularly for experiment 2, we demonstrated a general significant facilitation of corticospinal excitability during movement observation, i.e. MEPs elicited during grasp observation were larger than during baseline measurements which is in line with previous studies Alaerts, Van Aggelpoel, Swinnen, & Wenderoth, 2009;Fadiga, Fogassi, Pavesi, & Rizzolatti, 1995 Lemon, 2009;Sartori, Betti, & Castiello, 2013). Accordingly, the general MEP facilitation is more pronounced for FDI than for ADM (as found in Exp.…”

Section: General Versus Grip Specific Changes Of Corticomotor Excitabsupporting

confidence: 91%

Uncertainty in contextual and kinematic cues jointly modulate motor resonance in primary motor cortex

Cretu

Ruddy

Germann

et al. 2018

Preprint

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Contextual information accompanying others' actions modulates "motor resonance", i.e. neural activity within motor areas that is elicited by movement observation. One possibility is that we weight and combine such information in a Bayesian manner according to their relative uncertainty. Therefore, contextual information becomes particularly useful when others' actions are ambiguous. It is unclear, however, whether this uncertainty modulates the neural activity in primary motor cortex (M1) during movement observation. Here we applied single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) while subjects watched different grasping actions. We operationalized motor resonance as grip specific modulation of corticomotor excitability measured in the index (FDI) versus the little finger abductor (ADM). We experimentally modulated either the availability of kinematic information (Exp. 1) or the reliability of contextual cues (Exp. 2). Our results indicate that even in the absence of movement kinematics, reliable contextual information is enough to trigger significant muscle-specific corticomotor excitability changes in M1 (p<.0001) which are strongest when both kinematics and contextual information are available (p<.005). These findings suggest that bottom-up mechanisms that activate motor representations as a function of the observed kinematics, and top-down mechanisms which activate motor representations associated with arbitrary cues converge in M1 in a statistically optimal manner.

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“…It seems that it is not only the phase or the kinematics of the observed action that modulates the level of motor coding, but an interplay of low‐ and high‐level factors (e.g., the context; Iacoboni et al ., ). In this vein, a modulation of corticospinal excitability violating the classic motor facilitation effect has been shown when participants are instructed to perform incongruent actions (Newman‐Norlund et al ., ; Ocampo & Kritikos, ), when the observed action itself calls for a gesture involving different hand muscles with respect to the observed ones (Sartori et al ., 2013a‐c), and when participants involved in face‐to‐face interactions mutually adjust their movements in time and space in the absence of instructions to either imitate or perform a complementary response (Sacheli et al ., , ). In a recent study, observers' upper and lower limb muscles were both found activated while observing a soccer player kicking a ball straight in their direction (Sartori et al ., ), thus suggesting that motor coding might reflect different processes (providing literal copies of the observed action, predictive and non‐congruent muscular activations) in a non‐mutually exclusive way.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kick with the finger: symbolic actions shape motor cortex excitability

Betti

Castiello

Sartori

2015

Eur J of Neuroscience

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A large body of research indicates that observing actions made by others is associated with corresponding motor facilitation of the observer's corticospinal system. However, it is still controversial whether this matching mechanism strictly reflects the kinematics of the observed action or its meaning. To test this issue, motor evoked potentials induced by single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation were recorded from hand and leg muscles while participants observed a symbolic action carried out with the index finger, but classically performed with the leg (i.e., a soccer penalty kick). A control condition in which participants observed a similar (but not symbolic) hand movement was also included. Results showed that motor facilitation occurs both in the observer's hand (first dorsal interosseous) and leg (quadriceps femoris) muscles. The present study provides evidence that both the kinematics and the symbolic value of an observed action are able to modulate motor cortex excitability. The human motor system is thus not only involved in mirroring observed actions but is also finely tuned to their symbolic value.

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Corticospinal Excitability Modulation During Action Observation

Cited by 18 publications

References 49 publications

The multiform motor cortical output: Kinematic, predictive and response coding

The multiform motor cortical output: Kinematic, predictive and response coding

Uncertainty in contextual and kinematic cues jointly modulate motor resonance in primary motor cortex

Kick with the finger: symbolic actions shape motor cortex excitability

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