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Published on: December 18, 2015
Motor resonance may originate from sensorimotor experience
Agustín Petroni1, Federico Baguear, Valeria Della-Maggiore
1Department of Physiology and Biophysics, School of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, C1121ABG Argentina.
Journal of Neurophysiology
|August 6, 2010
Summary
Motor resonance, the activation of the motor system during action observation, stems from sensorimotor learning. This study shows that observing cues linked to executed actions, not just observed ones, enhances motor system activation.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Motor Control
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- The motor system activates during passive action observation, a phenomenon of significant interest in motor control.
- Sensorimotor learning has been shown to reconfigure the motor system during action observation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To directly test the hypothesis that motor resonance originates from sensorimotor contingencies.
- To investigate if abstract cues associated with actions can elicit motor resonance.
Main Methods:
- Measured corticospinal excitability via motor evoked potentials (MEPs) from the first dorsal interosseus (FDI) muscle.
- Subjects observed abstract colored stimuli previously associated with either executed or observed finger movements (index or little finger abduction).
Main Results:
- Corticospinal excitability was elevated when observing a cue associated with a movement involving the recorded muscle compared to a cue associated with a different muscle.
- This facilitation occurred only when the cue was linked to an executed movement, not merely an observed one.
Conclusions:
- Findings support the sensorimotor contingency hypothesis for action observation.
- The physical nature of the observed stimulus may be less critical than its learned sensorimotor association.
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