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Corticospinal Excitability Modulation During Action Observation

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Published on: December 31, 2013

Competitive interactions in sensorimotor cortex: oscillations express separation between alternative movement

Tineke Grent-'t-Jong¹, Robert Oostenveld², Ole Jensen²

¹Department of Neurology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; and Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands t.grent-tjong@donders.ru.nl.

Journal of Neurophysiology

|April 25, 2014

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Movement target separation influences choice behavior by altering neural activity. Closer targets increase preparatory brain activity, suggesting reduced competition between movement options.

Keywords:

magneto-encephalography neural competition oscillations reaching response preparation

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Science
Motor Control

Background:

Choice behavior is affected by target proximity, leading to spatial averaging in movements.
Neurocomputational models suggest motor environments shape cortical activity.
Understanding neural mechanisms of response selection in context is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how target separation influences motor cortical activity and neural interactions.
To determine if changes in neural cooperation/competition are reflected in sensorimotor rhythms.
To link neural activity patterns to behavioral spatial averaging.

Main Methods:

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) recorded brain activity during a joystick pointing task.
Participants were cued to two potential targets with varying angular separations (30°, 60°, 90°).
Analysis focused on sensorimotor rhythms (theta, beta, gamma bands) and event-related fields during delay periods.

Main Results:

Movement-preparatory activity (late delay period) was highest for the smallest target separation (30°).
This nonlinear pattern was observed in slow event-related fields and beta/gamma-band suppression.
Theta-band synchronization (early delay period) showed a similar pattern, potentially reflecting covert response activation.

Conclusions:

Increased movement-preparatory activity at smaller separations may stem from reduced neural competition.
Early theta-band synchronization could underlie behavioral spatial averaging effects.
Sensorimotor rhythm modulation reflects context-dependent neural dynamics in choice behavior.