Inferior frontal gyrus links visual and motor cortices during a visuomotor precision grip force task

Abstract

Coordination between vision and action relies on a fronto-parietal network that receives visual and proprioceptive sensory input in order to compute motor control signals. Here, we investigated with magnetoencephalography (MEG) which cortical areas are functionally coupled on the basis of synchronization during visuomotor integration. MEG signals were recorded from twelve healthy adults while performing a unimanual visuomotor (VM) task and control conditions. The VM task required the integration of pinch motor commands with visual sensory feedback. By using a beamformer, we localized the neural activity in the frequency range of 1-30Hz during the VM compared to rest. Virtual sensors were estimated at the active locations. A multivariate autoregressive model was used to estimate the power and coherence of estimated activity at the virtual sensors. Event-related desynchronisation (ERD) during VM was observed in early visual areas, the rostral part of the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), the right IFG, the superior parietal lobules, and the left hand motor cortex (M1). Functional coupling in the alpha frequency band bridged the regional activities observed in motor and visual cortices (the start and the end points in the visuomotor loop) through the left or right IFG. Coherence between the left IFG and left M1 correlated inversely with the task performance. Our results indicate that an occipital-prefrontal-motor functional network facilitates the modulation of instructed motor responses to visual cues. This network may supplement the mechanism for guiding actions that is fully incorporated into the dorsal visual stream.

Anatomy and white matter connections of the inferior frontal gyrus

“…Finally, the pars triangularis in the right cerebral hemisphere has been implicated in sensorimotor integration related to fine motor control (Papadelis et al ), such as in tasks related to inhibition of movement, lifting objects with changing weight, go/no‐go tasks, and movement imitation (Liakakis et al ). For example, the right caudal IFG has been reported to interface external motor information of the hand and arm with an internal representation of their movements, while the right rostral IFG shows activity during visuomotor tasks requiring continuous error‐monitoring (Papadelis et al ). Such integration of visual and motor information is thought to be mediated by the inferior fronto‐occipital fasciculus, allowing the delivery of information to and from areas of the frontal cortex and extrastriate visual areas (Papadelis et al ).…”

Distortion of Visuo-Motor Temporal Integration in Apraxia: Evidence From Delayed Visual Feedback Detection Tasks and Voxel-Based Lesion-Symptom Mapping

“…The IPL is known to contribute to motor representations of hand and finger movements (126–129). Recently, the IFG was reported to have an important role in the visuo-motor integration of finger movements (130). The IFG and IPL are related to planning, execution, and feedback perception of finger movements, and also function in the visuo-motor integration of finger movements.…”

“…Here, it is important to emphasize that the present study does not insist that the impairment of stored motor representation, technical reasoning, or body part coding is not a cause of apraxia. There is evidence showing that the IFG and IPL in the left ventro-dorsal stream are engaged in the mental simulation of hand-finger movements (169–171), motor learning (generation of a forward model) based on a comparison of motor prediction and actual feedback (172–174), production and recognition of gestures (47, 50, 85, 116, 131, 132), and visuo-motor integration (130), in addition to functions that are the main causes of apraxia. These findings suggested that in the left ventro-dorsal stream, the basic functions of the temporal integration of self-generated movements and visual feedback are carried out downstream of the main function, which causes apraxia.…”

Diagnosing schizophrenia with network analysis and a machine learning method

“…Impaired connectivity in the parietal lobe (Kahn et al, ; Peters et al, ) and frontal lobe (van den Heuvel et al, ) have also been described previously. Furthermore, the inferior temporal gyrus, which is known to be involved in visual processes (Papadelis et al, ; Zhang, Mlynaryk, Ahmed, Japee, & Ungerleider, ), has shown significant anatomical connectivity abnormalities in schizophrenia patients (Jeong, Wible, Hashimoto, & Kubicki, ).…”

“…Furthermore, the inferior temporal gyrus, which is known to be involved in visual processes (Papadelis et al, 2016;Zhang, Mlynaryk, Ahmed, Japee, & Ungerleider, 2018), has shown significant anatomical connectivity abnormalities in schizophrenia patients (Jeong, Wible, Hashimoto, & Kubicki, 2009).…”