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Published on: August 1, 2018
Role of the parietal cortex in predicting incoming actions
A P Fontana1, J M Kilner, E C Rodrigues
1Institut des Neurosciences Cognitives, CNRS, 67 Blv Pinel, 69675 Bron, France.
Neuroimage
|August 16, 2011
Summary
Parietal cortex damage impairs action understanding by disrupting motor preparation signals. This suggests the parietal lobe
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Motor Control
Background:
- The mirror system, involving parietal and ventral premotor cortices, is thought to underlie action understanding and imitation.
- Parietal neurons show predictive activity during movement planning, and damage can impair both self-action monitoring and action observation.
- It remains unclear if these deficits stem from a common underlying mechanism.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether parietal cortex lesions impair the neural mechanisms involved in preparing to observe actions.
- To determine if deficits in monitoring one's own action planning and observing others' actions share a common cause in parietal lobe dysfunction.
Main Methods:
- Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to record the Readiness Potential (RP) in patients with inferior parietal lobe lesions.
- Participants observed videos of an actor grasping an object, with color cues indicating impending movement.
- EEG data from parietal patients were compared to those of healthy controls and patients with ventral premotor cortex lesions.
Main Results:
- Healthy subjects and premotor cortex patients exhibited a significant RP preceding the observed action.
- Parietal patients showed no significant RP, indicating an inability to prepare for the observed action.
- This suggests a deficit in monitoring the early planning phases of observed actions.
Conclusions:
- Parietal cortex injury disrupts the ability to monitor the early planning stages of both self-initiated and observed actions.
- Parietal activity during action observation may reflect an anticipatory process based on learning and prediction, rather than solely a mirroring mechanism.
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