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Natural Translating Locomotion Modulates Cortical Activity at Action Observation
Thierry Pozzo1,2, Alberto Inuggi3, Alejo Keuroghlanian3
1Centro di Neurofisiologia Traslazionale, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Ferrara, Italy.
Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience
|November 23, 2017
Summary
The translational motion of observed walkers enhances sensorimotor cortical activity, particularly in beta bands. This suggests that the brain
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Motor Control
Background:
- Previous studies on biological motion often used static displays, omitting the translational aspect of locomotion.
- Locomotion involves a critical translational component towards a goal, which may influence action observation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if the translational component of locomotion modulates cortical activity during action observation.
- To determine if visual processing of biological motion, including translation, engages sensorimotor areas.
Main Methods:
- Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to record brain activity in theta, alpha, and beta frequency bands.
- Participants observed four types of stimuli: centered walker, centered scrambled, translating walker, and translating scrambled.
- Multinomial Logistic Regression was employed to analyze brain activity in specific regions of interest (ROIs).
Main Results:
- Higher theta synchronization was observed for stimuli with familiar shapes.
- Translating stimuli elicited greater beta band power decreases (indicating stronger motor resonance) compared to centered stimuli.
- Superior Parietal areas showed greater beta band modulation for translational locomotion compared to human shape alone.
- Dorsal-Parietal and Inferior-Frontal ROIs, key components of the action-observation system, could discriminate all four conditions based on beta activity.
Conclusions:
- The translational component of observed locomotion significantly modulates sensorimotor cortical activity.
- Horizontal body displacement during action observation enhances motor resonance and embodiment.
- The action-observation network, particularly Dorsal-Parietal and Inferior-Frontal regions, is sensitive to the translational dynamics of observed actions.
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