Overt orienting of spatial attention and corticospinal excitability during action observation are unrelated.
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TLDR
Evidence that social motor preparation is impermeable to attentional interference is provided and that a double dissociation is present between overt orienting of spatial attention and neurophysiological markers of action observation is provided.Abstract:
Observing moving body parts can automatically activate topographically corresponding motor representations in the primary motor cortex (M1), the so-called direct matching. Novel neurophysiological findings from social contexts are nonetheless proving that this process is not automatic as previously thought. The motor system can flexibly shift from imitative to incongruent motor preparation, when requested by a social gesture. In the present study we aim to bring an increase in the literature by assessing whether and how diverting overt spatial attention might affect motor preparation in contexts requiring interactive responses from the onlooker. Experiment 1 shows that overt attention-although anchored to an observed biological movement-can be captured by a target object as soon as a social request for it becomes evident. Experiment 2 reveals that the appearance of a short-lasting red dot in the contralateral space can divert attention from the target, but not from the biological movement. Nevertheless, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over M1 combined with electromyography (EMG) recordings (Experiment 3) indicates that attentional interference reduces corticospinal excitability related to the observed movement, but not motor preparation for a complementary action on the target. This work provides evidence that social motor preparation is impermeable to attentional interference and that a double dissociation is present between overt orienting of spatial attention and neurophysiological markers of action observation.read more
Citations
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Directing visual attention during action observation modulates corticospinal excitability.
TL;DR: The results have important implications for the design and delivery of action observation interventions in motor (re)learning settings, specifically, providing viewing instructions that direct participants to focus visual attention on task-relevant objects affected by the observed movement promotes activity in the motor system in a more optimal manner than free observation or no instructions.
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What modulates the Mirror Neuron System during action observation?: Multiple factors involving the action, the actor, the observer, the relationship between actor and observer, and the context
TL;DR: In this article, 22 distinct factors are described, broken down into the following sets: six involving the action, two involving the actor, nine involving the observer, four involving the relationship between actor and observer, and one involving the context.
Journal ArticleDOI
Observing Without Acting: A Balance of Excitation and Suppression in the Human Corticospinal Pathway?
TL;DR: This work took advantage of the directional sensitivity of TMS to recruit different subsets of M1 neurons and probed whether they responded differentially to action observation in a manner consistent with the balanced change in activity in primates, finding no evidence of any differential changes in the excitability of distinct M1 neuronal populations during action observation.
Selective attention and cognitive control: dissociating attentional functions through different types of load
TL;DR: The progress achieved in fractionating, localizing, and modeling control functions, and in understanding the interaction between stimulus-driven and voluntary control, takes research on control in the mind/brain to a new level of sophistication.
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Look at Me: Early Gaze Engagement Enhances Corticospinal Excitability During Action Observation.
Sonia Betti,Giovanni Zani,Umberto Granziol,Silvia Guerra,Umberto Castiello,Umberto Castiello,Luisa Sartori +6 more
TL;DR: Data from the two experiments seem to indicate that the joint contribution of direct gaze and precocious kinematic information, gained while a request gesture is on the verge of beginning, increases the subjective experience of involvement and allows observers to prepare for an appropriate social interaction.
References
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The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception
TL;DR: The relationship between Stimulation and Stimulus Information for visual perception is discussed in detail in this article, where the authors also present experimental evidence for direct perception of motion in the world and movement of the self.
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TL;DR: For instance, the authors discusses the multiplicity of the consciousness of self in the form of the stream of thought and the perception of space in the human brain, which is the basis for our work.
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The Attention System of the Human Brain
TL;DR: Illustration de trois fonctions principales qui sont predominantes dans l'etude de l'intervention de l'sattention dans les processus cognitifs: 1) orientation vers des evenements sensoriels; 2) detection des signaux par processus focal; 3) maintenir la vigilance en etat d'alerte
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Safety, ethical considerations, and application guidelines for the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation in clinical practice and research
TL;DR: The present updated guidelines review issues of risk and safety of conventional TMS protocols, address the undesired effects and risks of emerging TMS interventions, the applications of TMS in patients with implanted electrodes in the central nervous system, and safety aspects of T MS in neuroimaging environments.
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Speed of processing in the human visual system.
TL;DR: The visual processing needed to perform this highly demanding task can be achieved in under 150 ms, and ERP analysis revealed a frontal negativity specific to no-go trials that develops roughly 150 ms after stimulus onset.