Secondary sensory area SII is crucially involved in the preparation of familiar movements compared to movements never made before

• Published in: Human brain mapping Vol. 32; no. 4; pp. 564 - 579
• Main Authors: Beudel, M., Zijlstra, S., Mulder, Th, Zijdewind, I., de Jong, B.M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.04.2011; Wiley-Liss; John Wiley & Sons, Inc
• Subjects: Adult; Biological and medical sciences; corollary discharge; Ear and associated structures. Auditory pathways and centers. Hearing. Vocal organ. Phonation. Sound production. Echolocation; Female; fMRI; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Imagination - physiology; Imitative Behavior - physiology; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Male; Medical sciences; Memory - physiology; Mirror Neuron System; motor imagery; motor learning; Movement - physiology; Nervous system; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Radiodiagnosis. Nmr imagery. Nmr spectrometry; secondary sensory; Somatosensory Cortex - physiology; Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs; Young Adult; Nervous system diseases; Radiodiagnosis; secondary sensory; motor imagery; corollary discharge; Motor learning; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; Mirror Neuron System; fMRI; Mirror neuron; Acquisition process; Motricity; Efference copy; Motor preparation
• ISSN: 1065-9471; 1097-0193; 1097-0193
• DOI: 10.1002/hbm.21044

Secondary sensorimotor regions are involved in sensorimotor integration and movement preparation. These regions take part in parietal‐premotor circuitry that is not only active during motor execution but also during movement observation and imagery. This activation particularly occurs when observed movements belong to one's own motor repertoire, consistent with the finding that motor imagery only improves performance when one can actually make such movement. We aimed to investigate whether imagery or observation of a movement that was never made before causes parietal‐premotor activation or that the ability to perform this movement is indeed a precondition. Nine subjects [group Already Knowing It (AKI)] could abduct their hallux (moving big toe outward). Seven subjects initially failed to make such movement (Absolute Zero A0 group). They had to imagine, observe, or execute this movement, whereas fMRI data were obtained both before and after training. Contrasting abduction observation between the AKI‐group and A0‐group showed increased left SII and supplementary motor area activation. Comparing the observation of hallux flexion with abduction showed increased bilateral SII activation in the A0 and not in the AKI group. Prolonged training resulted in equal performance and similar cerebral activation patterns in the two groups. Thereby, conjunction analysis of the correlations on subject's range of abduction during execution, imagery, and observation of hallux abduction showed exclusive bilateral SII activation. The reduced SII involvement in A0 may imply that effective interplay between sensory predictions and feedback does not take place without actual movement experience. However, this can be acquired by training. Hum Brain Mapp, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.