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Updated: May 21, 2026
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Corticospinal Excitability Modulation During Action Observation
Published on: December 31, 2013
Increases of corticospinal excitability in self-related processing
Silvia Salerno1, Elisa Zamagni, Christian Urquizar
1INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, Lyon Neuroscience Research Centre, ImpAct Team, Lyon, France.
The European Journal of Neuroscience
|June 15, 2012
Summary
The right hemisphere shows increased motor cortex excitability when viewing one's own hand or phone, suggesting self-processing extends beyond faces. This self-recognition in the right hemisphere is linked to bodily self and ownership.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Motor Control
Background:
- Right hemisphere fronto-parietal regions are implicated in bodily self-recognition.
- Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies indicate right hemisphere involvement in self-related processing.
- Previous research limited self-dependent motor excitability to face processing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if viewing one's own hand, compared to another's, engages specific self-hand processing in the right hemisphere.
- To determine if self-recognition extends to owned objects.
- To explore the temporal dynamics and hemispheric laterality of self-processing.
Main Methods:
- Healthy participants underwent a TMS paradigm to assess corticospinal excitability.
- Stimuli included pictures of own/other's hand and own/other's mobile phone.
- TMS targeted the right and left motor cortex at different time points (100, 300, 600, 900 ms).
Main Results:
- A selective increase in right hemisphere corticospinal excitability was observed for self-hand and self-phone stimuli compared to 'other' stimuli.
- This self-vs-other modulation occurred at 600 ms and 900 ms, but not earlier.
- No such modulation was found following left hemisphere stimulation.
Conclusions:
- Self-processing in the right hemisphere extends to owned hands and objects, not just faces.
- Owned hands and objects may undergo similar self-processing, potentially involving a distinct cortical network.
- The findings highlight the right hemisphere's crucial role in self-related processing beyond identity recognition.
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