An EEG study on the somatotopic organisation of sensorimotor cortex activation during action execution and observation in infancy
Previous studies have shown that sensorimotor cortex activation is somatotopically-organised during action execution and observation in adulthood. Here we aimed to investigate the development of this phenomenon in infancy. We elicited arm and leg actions from 12-month-old infants and presented them,...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2015-10-01
|
| Series: | Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878929315000833 |
| _version_ | 1819012790310928384 |
|---|---|
| author | Carina C.J.M. de Klerk Mark H. Johnson Victoria Southgate |
| author_facet | Carina C.J.M. de Klerk Mark H. Johnson Victoria Southgate |
| author_sort | Carina C.J.M. de Klerk |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Previous studies have shown that sensorimotor cortex activation is somatotopically-organised during action execution and observation in adulthood. Here we aimed to investigate the development of this phenomenon in infancy. We elicited arm and leg actions from 12-month-old infants and presented them, and a control group of adults, with videos of arm and leg actions while we measured their sensorimotor alpha suppression using EEG. Sensorimotor alpha suppression during action execution was somatotopically organised in 12-month-old infants: there was more suppression over the arm areas when infants performed reaching actions, and more suppression over the leg area when they performed kicking actions. Adults also showed somatotopically-organised activation during the observation of reaching and kicking actions. In contrast, infants did not show somatotopically-organised activation during action observation, but instead activated the arm areas when observing both reaching and kicking actions. We suggest that the somatotopic organisation of sensorimotor cortex activation during action observation may depend on infants’ understanding of the action goal and their expectations about how this goal will be achieved. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T01:49:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6e40f25e5eb54d8bbb0c9940e91c5dd8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1878-9293 1878-9307 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T01:49:39Z |
| publishDate | 2015-10-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-6e40f25e5eb54d8bbb0c9940e91c5dd82022-12-21T19:19:55ZengElsevierDevelopmental Cognitive Neuroscience1878-92931878-93072015-10-0115C11010.1016/j.dcn.2015.08.004An EEG study on the somatotopic organisation of sensorimotor cortex activation during action execution and observation in infancyCarina C.J.M. de KlerkMark H. JohnsonVictoria SouthgatePrevious studies have shown that sensorimotor cortex activation is somatotopically-organised during action execution and observation in adulthood. Here we aimed to investigate the development of this phenomenon in infancy. We elicited arm and leg actions from 12-month-old infants and presented them, and a control group of adults, with videos of arm and leg actions while we measured their sensorimotor alpha suppression using EEG. Sensorimotor alpha suppression during action execution was somatotopically organised in 12-month-old infants: there was more suppression over the arm areas when infants performed reaching actions, and more suppression over the leg area when they performed kicking actions. Adults also showed somatotopically-organised activation during the observation of reaching and kicking actions. In contrast, infants did not show somatotopically-organised activation during action observation, but instead activated the arm areas when observing both reaching and kicking actions. We suggest that the somatotopic organisation of sensorimotor cortex activation during action observation may depend on infants’ understanding of the action goal and their expectations about how this goal will be achieved.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878929315000833SomatotopyElectroencephalographySensorimotor alphaAction perceptionInfancy |
| spellingShingle | Carina C.J.M. de Klerk Mark H. Johnson Victoria Southgate An EEG study on the somatotopic organisation of sensorimotor cortex activation during action execution and observation in infancy Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Somatotopy Electroencephalography Sensorimotor alpha Action perception Infancy |
| title | An EEG study on the somatotopic organisation of sensorimotor cortex activation during action execution and observation in infancy |
| title_full | An EEG study on the somatotopic organisation of sensorimotor cortex activation during action execution and observation in infancy |
| title_fullStr | An EEG study on the somatotopic organisation of sensorimotor cortex activation during action execution and observation in infancy |
| title_full_unstemmed | An EEG study on the somatotopic organisation of sensorimotor cortex activation during action execution and observation in infancy |
| title_short | An EEG study on the somatotopic organisation of sensorimotor cortex activation during action execution and observation in infancy |
| title_sort | eeg study on the somatotopic organisation of sensorimotor cortex activation during action execution and observation in infancy |
| topic | Somatotopy Electroencephalography Sensorimotor alpha Action perception Infancy |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878929315000833 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT carinacjmdeklerk aneegstudyonthesomatotopicorganisationofsensorimotorcortexactivationduringactionexecutionandobservationininfancy AT markhjohnson aneegstudyonthesomatotopicorganisationofsensorimotorcortexactivationduringactionexecutionandobservationininfancy AT victoriasouthgate aneegstudyonthesomatotopicorganisationofsensorimotorcortexactivationduringactionexecutionandobservationininfancy AT carinacjmdeklerk eegstudyonthesomatotopicorganisationofsensorimotorcortexactivationduringactionexecutionandobservationininfancy AT markhjohnson eegstudyonthesomatotopicorganisationofsensorimotorcortexactivationduringactionexecutionandobservationininfancy AT victoriasouthgate eegstudyonthesomatotopicorganisationofsensorimotorcortexactivationduringactionexecutionandobservationininfancy |