“What” Becoming “Where”: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Evidence for Pragmatic Relevance Driving Premotor Cortex

Abstract

Previous studies using the serial prediction task (SPT) have shown that attending to the locations of objects activates the dorsal part of premotor cortex more than attending to the sizes of objects. The opposite holds for the ventral part of the premotor cortex. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate whether the learning of arbitrary stimulus-response mappings influences this functional dissociation. One experimental group learned to assign stimuli to response buttons based on stimulus size; another group did so based on stimulus location. More specifically, one-half of the participants in both experimental groups learned to assign stimuli to finger movements of their right hand, whereas the other half assigned stimuli to finger movements of their left hand. During scanning, all participants performed both size SPT and location SPT. Thus, we investigated the effects of the attended stimulus property (size or location), the motor effector assigned to it (fingers of left or right hand), and the spatial arrangement of the targets (the same in all groups). As expected, without motor training, the dorsal premotor cortex was less activated during size SPT compared with location SPT. The opposite held for ventral premotor cortex. With motor training, however, this differential activity pattern vanished. Activity in dorsal premotor cortex reflected neither the attended stimulus property nor the motor effector assigned to it. Instead, its activity may be related to the spatial properties of the response targets once some object property, such as size, takes on the "pragmatic relevance" of a spatially directed response.

Tuning‐in to the beat: Aesthetic appreciation of musical rhythms correlates with a premotor activity boost

“…It was found that the localization of attention-related activation in PM varies not as a function of the motor effector r Preferred Rhythms Correlate With a Premotor Activity Boost r r 61 r previously assigned to the attended stimulus, but rather of the produced effects [Wolfensteller et al, 2004]. That means, with respect to PMv involvement here, it should make no difference whether a rhythm is produced by finger tapping, head nodding, foot tapping, or humming.…”

Brain imaging study of the acute effects of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on attention and motor coordination in regular users of marijuana

“…The pre-motor cortex (Brodmann area 6) is important for coordination and planning of complex sequences of movement (Wolfensteller et al 2004;Fox et al 1985;Schlag-Rey 1987, 1990). The supplementary motor area (Brodmann area 8) receives information from posterior and prefrontal association areas (Erdler et al 2001;Rushworth et al 2004), and is associated with vigilance (Posner 1990).…”

Prediction and Expectation

“…Thus, the particular role of premotor areas in perceptual prediction can be encapsulated by reference to change prediction: Target detection and serial match to sample are geared to the single stimulus (even when this task is performed on a sequence of stimuli), whereas the serial prediction task relies on processing stimulus-stimulus transitions. Depending on what stimulus property prediction is directed at, different subregions of the lateral premotor cortex are more engaged than others (e.g., Schubotz & von Cramon, 2001, 2002Schubotz, von Cramon, & Lohmann, 2003; further studies reviewed in Schubotz, 2004Schubotz, , 2007, reflecting a default mapping (Wolfensteller, Schubotz, & von Cramon, 2007) that can be reshaped by sensorimotor training (Wolfensteller, Schubotz, & von Cramon, 2004). Integrating these findings, the Habitual Pragmatic Event Map (HAPEM) framework proposes that the premotor subregions are tuned to different styles of afferent transformation, such as rotation, deformation, or acceleration, to predictively guide both action and event perception (Schubotz, 2007).…”