Abstract
In the present study, we demonstrated that observation of hand rotation had specific facilitation effects on a classical motor imagery task, the hand-laterality judgement. In Experiment 1, we found that action observation improved subjects’ performance on the hand laterality but not on the letter rotation task (stimulus specificity). In Experiment 2, we demonstrated that this facilitation was not due to mere observation of a moving hand, because it was triggered by observation of manual rotation but not of manual prehension movements (motion specificity). In Experiment 3, this stimulus- and motion-specific effect was found to be right hand-specific, compatible with left-hemispheric specialization in motor imagery but not in action observation. These data provided direct support to the idea that different simulation states, such as action observation and motor imagery, share some common mechanisms but also show specific functional differences.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alaerts K, Swinnen SP, Wenderoth N (2008) Is the human primary motor cortex activated by muscular or direction-dependent features of observed movements? Cortex. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2008.10.005
Alaerts K, Heremans E, Swinnen SP, Wenderoth N (2009) How are observed actions mapped to the observer’s motor system? Influence of posture and perspective. Neuropsychologia 47:415–422
Aziz-Zadeh L, Maeda F, Zaidel E, Mazziotta J, Iacoboni M (2002) Lateralization in motor facilitation during action observation: a TMS study. Exp Brain Res 144:127–131
Binkofski F, Buccino G (2006) The role of ventral premotor cortex in action execution and action understanding. J Physiol (Paris) 99:396–405
Binkofski F, Amunts K, Stephan KM, Posse S, Schormann T, Freund HJ, Zilles K, Seitz RJ (2000) Broca’s region subserves imagery of motion: a combined cytoarchitectonic and fMRI study. Hum Brain Mapp 11:273–285
Buccino G, Binkofski F, Fink GR, Fadiga L, Fogassi L, Gallese V, Seitz RJ, Zilles K, Rizzolatti G, Freund HJ (2001) Action observation activates premotor and parietal areas in a somatotopic manner: an fMRI study. Eur J Neurosci 13:400–404
Buccino G, Solodkin A, Small SL (2006) Functions of the mirror neuron system: implications for neurorehabilitation. Cogn Behav Neurol 19:55–63
Clark S, Tremblay F, Ste-Marie D (2004) Differential modulation of corticospinal excitability during observation, mental imagery and imitation of hand actions. Neuropsychologia 42:105–112
Conson M, Cinque F, Trojano L (2008a) The two sides of the mental clock: the Imaginal HemiSpatial Effect in the healthy brain. Brain Cogn 66:298–305
Conson M, Sacco S, Sarà M, Pistoia F, Grossi D, Trojano L (2008b) Selective motor imagery defect in patients with locked-in syndrome. Neuropsychologia 46:2622–2628
de Lange FP, Helmich RC, Toni I (2006) Posture influences motor imagery: an fMRI study. Neuroimage 33:609–617
Ertelt D, Small S, Solodkin A, Dettmers C, McNamara A, Binkofski F, Buccino G (2007) Action observation has a positive impact on rehabilitation of motor deficits after stroke. Neuroimage 36(Suppl 2):T164–T173
Fadiga L, Fogassi L, Pavesi G, Rizzolatti G (1995) Motor facilitation during action observation: a magnetic stimulation study. J Neurophysiol 73:2608–2611
Fadiga L, Buccino G, Craighero L, Fogassi L, Gallese V, Pavesi G (1999) Corticospinal excitability is specifically modulated by motor imagery: a magnetic stimulation study. Neuropsychologia 37:147–158
Formisano E, Linden DE, Di Salle F, Trojano L, Esposito F, Sack AT, Grossi D, Zanella FE, Goebel R (2002) Tracking the mind’s image in the brain I: time-resolved fMRI during visuospatial mental imagery. Neuron 35:185–194
Ganis G, Keenan JP, Kosslyn SM, Pascual-Leone A (2000) Transcranial magnetic stimulation of primary motor cortex affects mental rotation. Cereb Cortex 10:175–180
Gentilucci M, Daprati E, Gangitano M (1998) Implicit visual analysis in handedness recognition. Conscious Cogn 7:478–493
Georgopoulos AP, Lurito JT, Petrides M, Schwartz AB, Massey JT (1989) Mental rotation of the neuronal population vector. Science 243:234–236
Gerardin E, Sirigu A, Lehericy S, Poline JB, Gaymard B, Marsault C, Agid Y, Le Bihan D (2000) Partially overlapping neural networks for real and imagined hand movements. Cereb Cortex 10:1093–1104
Grafton ST, Arbib MA, Fadiga L, Rizzolatti G (1996) Localization of grasp representations in humans by positron emission tomography. 2. Observation compared with imagination. Exp Brain Res 112:103–111
Grèzes J, Decety J (2001) Functional anatomy of execution, mental simulation, observation, and verb generation of actions: a meta-analysis. Hum Brain Mapp 12:1–19
Guillot A, Collet C (2005) Duration of mentally simulated movement: a review. J Mot Behav 37:10–20
Iacoboni M, Woods RP, Brass M, Bekkering H, Mazziotta JC, Rizzolatti G (1999) Cortical mechanisms of human imitation. Science 286:2526–2528
Jeannerod M (1995) Mental imagery in the motor context. Neuropsychologia 33:1419–1432
Jeannerod M (2001) Neural simulation of action: a unifying mechanism for motor cognition. Neuroimage 14:S103–S109
Kosslyn SM, Di Girolamo GJ, Thompson WL, Alpert NM (1998) Mental rotation of objects versus hands: neural mechanisms revealed by positron emission tomography. Psychophysiology 35:151–161
Lotze M, Halsband U (2006) Motor imagery. J Physiol 99:386–395
Munzert J, Zentgraf K, Stark R, Vaitl D (2008) Neural activation in cognitive motor processes: comparing motor imagery and observation of gymnastic movements. Exp Brain Res 188:437–444
Oldfield RC (1971) The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh inventory. Neuropsychologia 9:97–113
Parsons LM (1987) Imagined spatial transformation of one’s hands and feet. Cogn Psychol 19:178–241
Parsons LM (1994) Temporal and kinematic properties of motor behavior reflected in mentally simulated action. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 20:709–730
Patuzzo S, Fiaschi A, Manganotti P (2003) Modulation of motor cortex excitability in the left hemisphere during action observation: a single- and paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation study of self- and non-self-action observation. Neuropsychologia 41:1272–1278
Porro CA, Francescato MP, Cettolo V, Diamond ME, Baraldi P, Zuiani C, Bazzocchi M, di Prampero PE (1996) Primary motor and sensory cortex activation during motor performance and motor imagery: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study. J Neurosci 16:7688–7698
Rizzolatti G, Fadiga L, Matelli M, Bettinardi V, Paulesu E, Perani D, Fazio F (1996) Localization of grasp representations in humans by PET. 1. Observation versus execution. Exp Brain Res 111:246–252
Sack AT, Lindner M, Linden DEJ (2007) Object- and direction-specific interference between manual and mental rotation. Percept Psychophys 69:1435–1449
Sekiyama K (1982) Kinesthetic aspects of mental representations in the identification of left and right hands. Percept Psychophys 32:89–95
Tomasino B, Borroni P, Isaja A, Rumiati RI (2005) The role of the primary motor cortex in mental rotation: a TMS study. Cogn Neuropsychol 22:348 36
Trojano L, Grossi D, Linden DE, Formisano E, Hacker H, Zanella FE, Goebel R, Di Salle F (2000) Matching two imagined clocks: the functional anatomy of spatial analysis in the absence of visual stimulation. Cereb Cortex 10:473–481
Wexler M, Kosslyn SM, Berthoz A (1998) Motor processes in mental rotation. Cognition 68:77–94
Wohlschläger A, Wohlschläger A (1988) Mental and manual rotation. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 24:397–412
Zentgraf K, Stark R, Reiser M, Künzell S, Schienle A, Kirsch P, Walter B, Vaitl D, Munzert J (2005) Differential activation of pre-SMA and SMA proper during action observation: effects of instructions. Neuroimage 26:662–672
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Conson, M., Sarà, M., Pistoia, F. et al. Action observation improves motor imagery: specific interactions between simulative processes. Exp Brain Res 199, 71–81 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-009-1974-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-009-1974-3