Hand preference influences neural correlates of action observation

Abstract

It has been argued that we map observed actions onto our own motor system. Here we added to this issue by investigating whether hand preference influences the neural correlates of action observation of simple, essentially meaningless hand actions. Such an influence would argue for an intricate neural coupling between action production and action observation, which goes beyond effects of motor repertoire or explicit motor training, as has been suggested before. Indeed, parts of the human motor system exhibited a close coupling between action production and action observation. Ventral premotor and inferior and superior parietal cortices showed differential activation for left-and right-handers that was similar during action production as well as during action observation. This suggests that mapping observed actions onto the observer's own motor system is a core feature of action observation -at least for actions that do not have a clear goal or meaning. Basic differences in the way we act upon the world are not only reflected in neural correlates of action production, but can also influence the brain basis of action observation. IntroductionMost individuals have a strong preference to use either the left or the right hand as dominant hand when performing common activities. This distinguishing feature among individuals is at least partially genetically determined, settles early in development and is observed across cultures (see e.g. Annett, 2002;McManus, 2002). Hand preference has been found to differentially influence the cortical motor production system of left-and right-handers (e.g. Kim et al., 1993;Kloppel et al., 2007). Here we investigated whether analogously, hand preference influences neural correlates of action observation.Research shows that action production and action observation are closely linked at the neural level, most notably in the form of mirror neurons in monkey area F5 in ventral premotor cortex and area PF in inferior parietal cortex (see Rizzolatti et al., 2001; Rizzolatti and Craighero, 2004 for review). Also in humans it was shown that the ventral part of the premotor cortex and the inferior part of the parietal cortex become active during action observation (for review see Rizzolatti et al., 2001;Rizzolatti and Craighero, 2004;Binkofski and Buccino, 2006;Iacoboni and Dapretto, 2006).Compelling evidence for a close link between action production and action observation would be if differences between individuals in terms of motor production lead to different neural correlates during action observation. That is, neural correlates of action observation may be modulated by the motor production 'specifics' of the observer. There is some recent evidence from comparing motor experts to B R A I N R E S E A R C H 1 2 6 9 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 9 0 -1 0 4 ⁎ Corresponding author.

On the other hand: including left-handers in cognitive neuroscience and neurogenetics

“…Activation of left-and right-handers' motor cortex during action observation is the same as that observed during action execution of simple hand movements (opening and closing of the hands) 62 . This finding suggests that observation of simple hand movements occurs through an implicit simulation.…”

“…Although this claim had been made previously on the basis of research in right-handed participants alone (for example, see REF. 63), the study that included lefthanders provided further evidence for it by showing that the motor simulation during simple action observation is specific to the observer's own motor repertoire 62 . In another study of embodied cognition, left-and right-handers were asked to assign positive or negative characteristics to nonsense figures presented on the left or right side of a page.…”

Preferência manual de crianças ao alcançar objetos de tamanho e rigidez diferentes

“…Em relação à preferência manual, a direita em todas as idades avaliadas era um dado esperado, uma vez que, segundo a literatura, a relação entre destros e canhotos é de 9:1, ou seja, 90% da população é destra 3,6 . Além disso, com o aumento da idade a preferência pela meses.…”

“…Essa preferência pode estar relacionada a fatores genéticos que produzem assimetrias estruturais no sistema nervoso central, estabelecendo-se precocemente durante o desenvolvimento 2,3 , o que favorecerá o processo de aprendizagem e a consolidação de praxias, permitindo que a criança organize suas atividades motoras 4 . Também pode estar relacionada com a tarefa realizada pelo lactente que está desenvolvendo a apreensão de objetos e pelo ambiente no qual está inserido 5 .…”

Determining Method for Potential Injury Attitude Based on Three-dimensional Image Analysis

“…Prevention demand of sports injuries as an important potential sports risks also increases [3,4]. Considering correlation of sports injuries and psychological factors, such as, risk perception, risk responsibility, athletic ability determination, for public health population in perspective of sports psychology [5], determining experienced validity of the above factors on the actual fitness training in sports injuries, and exploring gender differences between them [6,7], provide a theoretical basis for further reducing and preventing sports injuries.…”