Mu-desynchronization, N400 and corticospinal excitability during observation of natural and anatomically unnatural finger movements
The action observation networks (AON) (or the mirror neuron system) are the neural underpinnings of visuomotor integration and play an important role in motor control. Besides, one of the main functions of the human mirror neuron system is recognition of observed actions and the prediction of its ou...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2022.973229/full |
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| author | Nikolay Syrov Nikolay Syrov Dimitri Bredikhin Dimitri Bredikhin Lev Yakovlev Lev Yakovlev Andrei Miroshnikov Alexander Kaplan Alexander Kaplan |
| author_facet | Nikolay Syrov Nikolay Syrov Dimitri Bredikhin Dimitri Bredikhin Lev Yakovlev Lev Yakovlev Andrei Miroshnikov Alexander Kaplan Alexander Kaplan |
| author_sort | Nikolay Syrov |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The action observation networks (AON) (or the mirror neuron system) are the neural underpinnings of visuomotor integration and play an important role in motor control. Besides, one of the main functions of the human mirror neuron system is recognition of observed actions and the prediction of its outcome through the comparison with the internal mental motor representation. Previous studies focused on the human mirror neurons (MNs) activation during object-oriented movements observation, therefore intransitive movements observation effects on MNs activity remains relatively little-studied. Moreover, the dependence of MNs activation on the biomechanical characteristics of observed movement and their biological plausibility remained highly underexplored. In this study we proposed that naturalness of observed intransitive movement can modulate the MNs activity. Event-related desynchronization (ERD) of sensorimotor electroencephalography (EEG) rhythms, N400 event-related potentials (ERPs) component and corticospinal excitability were investigated in twenty healthy volunteers during observation of simple non-transitive finger flexion that might be either biomechanically natural or unnatural when finger wriggled out toward the dorsal side of palm. We showed that both natural and unnatural movements caused mu/beta-desynchronization, which gradually increased during the flexion phase and returned to baseline while observation of extension. Desynchronization of the mu-rhythm was significantly higher during observation of the natural movements. At the same time, beta-rhythm was not found to be sensitive to the action naturalness. Also, observation of unnatural movements caused an increased amplitude of the N400 component registered in the centro-parietal regions. We suggest that the sensitivity of N400 to intransitive action observation with no explicit semantic context might imply the broader role of N400 sources within AON. Surprisingly, no changes in corticospinal excitability were found. This lack of excitability modulation by action observation could be related with dependence of the M1 activity on the observed movement phase. |
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| format | Article |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5161 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T00:41:10Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
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| series | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-1050584614d64162a4a330b9f6af040c2022-12-22T02:22:11ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Human Neuroscience1662-51612022-09-011610.3389/fnhum.2022.973229973229Mu-desynchronization, N400 and corticospinal excitability during observation of natural and anatomically unnatural finger movementsNikolay Syrov0Nikolay Syrov1Dimitri Bredikhin2Dimitri Bredikhin3Lev Yakovlev4Lev Yakovlev5Andrei Miroshnikov6Alexander Kaplan7Alexander Kaplan8Baltic Center for Artificial Intelligence and Neurotechnology, Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, Kaliningrad, RussiaV. Zelman Center for Neurobiology and Brain Restoration, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Moscow, RussiaDepartment of Human and Animal Physiology, Faculty of Biology, M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, RussiaDepartment of Psychology, Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, RussiaBaltic Center for Artificial Intelligence and Neurotechnology, Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, Kaliningrad, RussiaV. Zelman Center for Neurobiology and Brain Restoration, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Moscow, RussiaBaltic Center for Artificial Intelligence and Neurotechnology, Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, Kaliningrad, RussiaBaltic Center for Artificial Intelligence and Neurotechnology, Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, Kaliningrad, RussiaDepartment of Human and Animal Physiology, Faculty of Biology, M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, RussiaThe action observation networks (AON) (or the mirror neuron system) are the neural underpinnings of visuomotor integration and play an important role in motor control. Besides, one of the main functions of the human mirror neuron system is recognition of observed actions and the prediction of its outcome through the comparison with the internal mental motor representation. Previous studies focused on the human mirror neurons (MNs) activation during object-oriented movements observation, therefore intransitive movements observation effects on MNs activity remains relatively little-studied. Moreover, the dependence of MNs activation on the biomechanical characteristics of observed movement and their biological plausibility remained highly underexplored. In this study we proposed that naturalness of observed intransitive movement can modulate the MNs activity. Event-related desynchronization (ERD) of sensorimotor electroencephalography (EEG) rhythms, N400 event-related potentials (ERPs) component and corticospinal excitability were investigated in twenty healthy volunteers during observation of simple non-transitive finger flexion that might be either biomechanically natural or unnatural when finger wriggled out toward the dorsal side of palm. We showed that both natural and unnatural movements caused mu/beta-desynchronization, which gradually increased during the flexion phase and returned to baseline while observation of extension. Desynchronization of the mu-rhythm was significantly higher during observation of the natural movements. At the same time, beta-rhythm was not found to be sensitive to the action naturalness. Also, observation of unnatural movements caused an increased amplitude of the N400 component registered in the centro-parietal regions. We suggest that the sensitivity of N400 to intransitive action observation with no explicit semantic context might imply the broader role of N400 sources within AON. Surprisingly, no changes in corticospinal excitability were found. This lack of excitability modulation by action observation could be related with dependence of the M1 activity on the observed movement phase.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2022.973229/fullaction observationevent-related desynchronizationN400corticospinal excitabilitymirror-neuron systemmu-rhythm |
| spellingShingle | Nikolay Syrov Nikolay Syrov Dimitri Bredikhin Dimitri Bredikhin Lev Yakovlev Lev Yakovlev Andrei Miroshnikov Alexander Kaplan Alexander Kaplan Mu-desynchronization, N400 and corticospinal excitability during observation of natural and anatomically unnatural finger movements Frontiers in Human Neuroscience action observation event-related desynchronization N400 corticospinal excitability mirror-neuron system mu-rhythm |
| title | Mu-desynchronization, N400 and corticospinal excitability during observation of natural and anatomically unnatural finger movements |
| title_full | Mu-desynchronization, N400 and corticospinal excitability during observation of natural and anatomically unnatural finger movements |
| title_fullStr | Mu-desynchronization, N400 and corticospinal excitability during observation of natural and anatomically unnatural finger movements |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mu-desynchronization, N400 and corticospinal excitability during observation of natural and anatomically unnatural finger movements |
| title_short | Mu-desynchronization, N400 and corticospinal excitability during observation of natural and anatomically unnatural finger movements |
| title_sort | mu desynchronization n400 and corticospinal excitability during observation of natural and anatomically unnatural finger movements |
| topic | action observation event-related desynchronization N400 corticospinal excitability mirror-neuron system mu-rhythm |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2022.973229/full |
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