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Brain Activation Patterns Characterizing Different Phases of Motor Action: Execution, Choice and Ideation

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Abstract

Motor behaviour is controlled by a large set of interacting neural structures, subserving the different components involved in hierarchical motor processes. Few studies have investigated the neural substrate of higher-order motor ideation, i.e. the mental operation of conceiving a movement. The aim of this functional magnetic resonance imaging study was to segregate the neural structures involved in motor ideation from those involved in movement choice and execution. An index finger movement paradigm was adopted, including three different conditions: performing a pre-specified movement, choosing and executing a movement and ideating a movement of choice. The tasks involved either the right or left hand, in separate runs. Neuroimaging results were obtained by comparing the different experimental conditions and computing conjunction maps of the right and left hands for each contrast. Pre-specified movement execution was supported by bilateral fronto-parietal motor regions, the cerebellum and putamen. Choosing and executing finger movement involved mainly left fronto-temporal areas and the anterior cingulate. Motor ideation activated almost exclusively left hemisphere regions, including the inferior, middle and superior frontal regions, middle temporal and middle occipital gyri. These findings show that motor ideation is controlled by a cortical network mainly involved in abstract thinking, cognitive and motor control, semantic and visual imagery processes.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by funding from Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio of Parma and Piacenza and ex 60 % F.I.L. to P.C. and by a grant from MIUR (Italy) to A.V.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience, University of Parma, Via Gramsci, 14, 43100, Parma, Italy

    Simona Gardini & Paolo Caffarra

  2. Department of Neuroscience, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Annalena Venneri

  3. IRCCS, Fondazione Ospedale S. Camillo, Venice, Italy

    Annalena Venneri

  4. School of Psychological Sciences and Health, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK

    William Jonathan McGeown

  5. Biolab, Department of Communication, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy

    Cristian Toraci

  6. Struttura Complessa di Fisica Sanitaria, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

    Luca Nocetti

  7. Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, Section of Human Physiology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

    Carlo Adolfo Porro

  8. Centre for Cognitive Disorders and Dementia (CDCD), AUSL, Parma, Italy

    Paolo Caffarra

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  1. Simona Gardini
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  2. Annalena Venneri
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  3. William Jonathan McGeown
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Correspondence to Paolo Caffarra.

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Gardini, S., Venneri, A., McGeown, W.J. et al. Brain Activation Patterns Characterizing Different Phases of Motor Action: Execution, Choice and Ideation. Brain Topogr 29, 679–692 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-016-0491-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-016-0491-5

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