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Hierarchical Action Encoding Within the Human Brain.
Luca Turella1, Raffaella Rumiati2, Angelika Lingnau1,3,4
1Center for Mind/Brain Sciences-CIMeC, University of Trento, Rovereto 38068, Italy.
Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
|January 17, 2020
Summary
The brain represents abstract action goals hierarchically. Motor and parietal cortices encode action goals at different abstraction levels, explaining flexible human hand movements.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Motor Control
Background:
- Human hand dexterity relies on abstract action goal representation beyond specific muscle commands.
- The neural basis of how the brain encodes these abstract action goals remains debated.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the hierarchical encoding of action goals in the human brain.
- To differentiate between concrete action, effector-dependent goal, and effector-independent goal representations.
Main Methods:
- Multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data.
- Participants performed various grasping actions with different hands and wrist orientations.
Main Results:
- Motor cortices jointly encoded concrete actions and effector-dependent goals.
- The parietal lobe exhibited convergence of all three representation levels (concrete, effector-dependent, effector-independent goals).
- Left lateral occipito-temporal cortex showed effector-independent goal encoding but lacked convergence.
Conclusions:
- Evidence supports a hierarchical organization of action goal encoding in the brain.
- Neural substrates in motor and parietal cortices are crucial for flexible human hand behavior.
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