Neural Substrates of Real and Imagined Sensorimotor Coordination

Abstract

Much debate in the behavioral literature focuses on the relative contribution of motor and perceptual processes in mediating coordinative stability. To a large degree, such debate has proceeded independently of what is going on in the brain. Here, using blood oxygen level-dependent measures of neural activation, we compare physically executed and imagined rhythmic coordination in order to better assess the relative contribution of hypothesized neuromusculoskeletal mechanisms in modulating behavioral stability. The executed tasks were to coordinate index finger to thumb opposition movements of the right hand with an auditory metronome in either a synchronized (on the beat) or syncopated (off the beat) pattern. Imagination involved the same tasks, except without physical movement. Thus, the sensory stimulus and coordination constraints were the same in both physical and imagination tasks, but the motoric requirements were not. Results showed that neural differences between executed synchronization and syncopation found in premotor cortex, supplementary motor area, basal ganglia and lateral cerebellum persist even when the coordinative patterns were only imagined. Neural indices reflecting behavioral stability were not abolished by the absence of overt movement suggesting that coordination phenomena are not exclusively rooted in purely motoric constraints. On the other hand, activity in the superior temporal gyrus was modulated by both the presence of movement and the nature of the coordination, attesting to the intimacy between perceptual and motoric processes in coordination dynamics.

Cognitive Constraints in Motor Imagery

“…The present results complement and extend previous findings showing that effects of neuronal cross-talk during programming of bimanual movements are apparent in motor imagery (Heuer et al, 1998). In addition, they go in line with neurological findings showing that stimulus and coordination constraints influence imagination and execution in a similar way (Oullier et al, 2005). If task performance had been limited by biomechanical or motor constraints, slower parallel than symmetric movements should have been observed.…”

“…First, our results and previous results (Heuer et al, 1998;Oullier et al, 2005) suggest that different types of coordination constraints are present in imagery. Thus, it should be possible to effectively apply mental practice to activities which require a high amount of coordination between different limbs, like rowing.…”

Social coordination dynamics: Measuring human bonding

“…This notion is bolstered by evidence showing that observation of another person performing rhythmic movements generates a kinematically specific memory trace of the observed motions in primary motor cortex (Stefan, Cohen, Duque, Mazzocchio, Celnik, Sawaki, Ungerleider, & Classen, 2005). Moreover, representations at the neural level have been shown to be highly flexible and context-dependent (Jantzen, Steinberg, & Kelso, 2004;, influenced both by environmental (Wheeler, Peterson & Buckner, 2000) and task demands (Oullier, Jantzen, Steinberg, & Kelso, 2005).…”

Rhythm and Time in Music Epitomize the Temporal Dynamics of Human Communicative Behavior: The Broad Implications of London's Trinity

“…Work employing fMRI has shown that rhythm perception recruits brain areas that are traditionally considered to be part of the motor system. Thus, areas involved in motor control and learning, action selection, planning, and sequencing are activated in tasks that require beat finding, imagined sensorimotor synchronization, and recognition memory for rhythm patterns (Grahn, 2009;Janata & Grafton, 2003;Oullier, Jantzen, Steinberg, & Kelso, 2005;Zatorre, Chen, & Penhune, 2007). One possibility, then, is that rhythm perception involves the simulation of action.…”