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Zai AT, Stepien AE, Giret N, Hahnloser RHR. Goal-directed vocal planning in a songbird. eLife 2024; 12:RP90445. [PMID: 38959057 PMCID: PMC11221833 DOI: 10.7554/elife.90445] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Songbirds' vocal mastery is impressive, but to what extent is it a result of practice? Can they, based on experienced mismatch with a known target, plan the necessary changes to recover the target in a practice-free manner without intermittently singing? In adult zebra finches, we drive the pitch of a song syllable away from its stable (baseline) variant acquired from a tutor, then we withdraw reinforcement and subsequently deprive them of singing experience by muting or deafening. In this deprived state, birds do not recover their baseline song. However, they revert their songs toward the target by about 1 standard deviation of their recent practice, provided the sensory feedback during the latter signaled a pitch mismatch with the target. Thus, targeted vocal plasticity does not require immediate sensory experience, showing that zebra finches are capable of goal-directed vocal planning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anja T Zai
- Neuroscience Center Zurich (ZNZ), University of Zurich and ETH ZurichZurichSwitzerland
- Institute of Neuroinformatics, University of Zurich and ETH ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - Anna E Stepien
- Neuroscience Center Zurich (ZNZ), University of Zurich and ETH ZurichZurichSwitzerland
- Institute of Neuroinformatics, University of Zurich and ETH ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - Nicolas Giret
- Institut des Neurosciences Paris-Saclay, UMR 9197 CNRS, Université Paris-SaclaySaclayFrance
| | - Richard HR Hahnloser
- Neuroscience Center Zurich (ZNZ), University of Zurich and ETH ZurichZurichSwitzerland
- Institute of Neuroinformatics, University of Zurich and ETH ZurichZurichSwitzerland
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Karimova ED, Ovakimian AS, Katermin NS. Live vs video interaction: sensorimotor and visual cortical oscillations during action observation. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae168. [PMID: 38679481 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae168] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2024] [Revised: 03/28/2024] [Accepted: 04/01/2024] [Indexed: 05/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Increasingly, in the field of communication, education, and business, people are switching to video interaction, and interlocutors frequently complain that the perception of nonverbal information and concentration suffer. We investigated this issue by analyzing electroencephalogram (EEG) oscillations of the sensorimotor (mu rhythm) and visual (alpha rhythm) cortex of the brain in an experiment with action observation live and on video. The mu rhythm reflects the activity of the mirror neuron system, and the occipital alpha rhythm shows the level of visual attention. We used 32-channel EEG recorded during live and video action observation in 83 healthy volunteers. The ICA method was used for selecting the mu- and alpha-components; the Fourier Transform was used to calculate the suppression index relative to the baseline (stationary demonstrator) of the rhythms. The main range of the mu rhythm was indeed sensitive to social movement and was highly dependent on the conditions of interaction-live or video. The upper mu-range appeared to be less sensitive to the conditions, but more sensitive to different movements. The alpha rhythm did not depend on the type of movement; however, a live performance initially caused a stronger concentration of visual attention. Thus, subtle social and nonverbal perceptions may suffer in remote video interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ekaterina D Karimova
- Laboratory of Applied Physiology of Human Higher Nervous Activity, Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of RAS (IHNA&NPh RAS), 5A Butlerova street, 117485 Moscow, the Russian Federation
| | - Alena S Ovakimian
- Laboratory of Applied Physiology of Human Higher Nervous Activity, Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of RAS (IHNA&NPh RAS), 5A Butlerova street, 117485 Moscow, the Russian Federation
| | - Nikita S Katermin
- Flow cytometry data processing group, BostonGene Technologies, Hrachya Qochar Str., 2A, 0033, Yerevan, Armenia
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Chiappini E, Turrini S, Zanon M, Marangon M, Borgomaneri S, Avenanti A. Driving Hebbian plasticity over ventral premotor-motor projections transiently enhances motor resonance. Brain Stimul 2024; 17:211-220. [PMID: 38387557 DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2024.02.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2023] [Revised: 12/23/2023] [Accepted: 02/16/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Making sense of others' actions relies on the activation of an action observation network (AON), which maps visual information about observed actions onto the observer's motor system. This motor resonance process manifests in the primary motor cortex (M1) as increased corticospinal excitability finely tuned to the muscles engaged in the observed action. Motor resonance in M1 is facilitated by projections from higher-order AON regions. However, whether manipulating the strength of AON-to-M1 connectivity affects motor resonance remains unclear. METHODS We used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in 48 healthy humans. Cortico-cortical paired associative stimulation (ccPAS) was administered over M1 and the ventral premotor cortex (PMv), a key AON node, to induce spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) in the pathway connecting them. Single-pulse TMS assessed motor resonance during action observation. RESULTS Before ccPAS, action observation increased corticospinal excitability in the muscles corresponding to the observed movements, reflecting motor resonance in M1. Notably, ccPAS aimed at strengthening projections from PMv to M1 (PMv→M1) induced short-term enhancement of motor resonance. The enhancement specifically occurred with the ccPAS configuration consistent with forward PMv→M1 projections and dissipated 20 min post-stimulation; ccPAS administered in the reverse order (M1→PMv) and sham stimulation did not affect motor resonance. CONCLUSIONS These findings provide the first evidence that inducing STDP to strengthen PMv input to M1 neurons causally enhances muscle-specific motor resonance in M1. Our study sheds light on the plastic mechanisms that shape AON functionality and demonstrates that exogenous manipulation of AON connectivity can influence basic mirror mechanisms that underlie social perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emilio Chiappini
- Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Vienna, 1010, Vienna, Austria; Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, 47521, Cesena, Italy; Department of Psychology and Neurosciences, Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo), 44139, Dortmund, Germany.
| | - Sonia Turrini
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, 47521, Cesena, Italy; Precision Neuroscience & Neuromodulation Program, Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02114, United States
| | - Marco Zanon
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, 47521, Cesena, Italy; Neuroscience Area, International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), 34136, Trieste, Italy
| | - Mattia Marangon
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, 47521, Cesena, Italy; Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Biomedicina e Scienze del Movimento, Sezione di Fisiologia e Psicologia, Università di Verona, 37124, Verona, Italy
| | - Sara Borgomaneri
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, 47521, Cesena, Italy
| | - Alessio Avenanti
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Campus di Cesena, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, 47521, Cesena, Italy; Centro de Investigación en Neuropsicología y Neurociencias Cognitivas (CINPSI Neurocog), Universidad Católica Del Maule, 346000, Talca, Chile.
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Behroozmand R, Sarmukadam K, Fridriksson J. Aberrant modulation of broadband neural oscillations reflects vocal sensorimotor deficits in post-stroke aphasia. Clin Neurophysiol 2023; 149:100-112. [PMID: 36934601 PMCID: PMC10101924 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2023.02.176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2022] [Revised: 02/17/2023] [Accepted: 02/25/2023] [Indexed: 03/11/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The present study investigated the neural oscillatory correlates of impaired vocal sensorimotor control in left-hemisphere stroke. METHODS Electroencephalography (EEG) signals were recorded from 34 stroke and 46 control subjects during speech vowel vocalization and listening tasks under normal and pitch-shifted auditory feedback. RESULTS Time-frequency analyses revealed aberrantly decreased theta (4-8 Hz) and increased gamma band (30-80 Hz) power in frontal and posterior parieto-occipital regions as well as reduced alpha (8-13 Hz) and beta (13-30 Hz) desynchronization over sensorimotor areas before speech vowel vocalization in left-hemisphere stroke compared with controls. Subjects with the stroke also presented with aberrant modulation of broadband (4-80 Hz) neural oscillations over sensorimotor regions after speech vowel onset during vocalization and listening under normal and altered auditory feedback. We found that the atypical pattern of broadband neural oscillatory modulation was correlated with diminished vocal feedback error compensation behavior and the severity of co-existing language-related aphasia symptoms associated with left-hemisphere stroke. CONCLUSIONS These findings indicate complex interplays between the underlying mechanisms of speech and language and their deficits in post-stroke aphasia. SIGNIFICANCE Our data motivate the notion of studying neural oscillatory dynamics as a critical component for the examination of speech and language disorders in post-stroke aphasia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roozbeh Behroozmand
- Speech Neuroscience Lab, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, 915 Greene Street, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.
| | - Kimaya Sarmukadam
- Speech Neuroscience Lab, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, 915 Greene Street, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
| | - Julius Fridriksson
- The Aphasia Lab, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, 915 Greene St, Columbia, SC 29208, USA; Center for the Study of Aphasia Recovery (C-STAR), Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, 915 Greene St, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
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Feng H, Zeng Y, Lu E. Brain-Inspired Affective Empathy Computational Model and Its Application on Altruistic Rescue Task. Front Comput Neurosci 2022; 16:784967. [PMID: 35923916 PMCID: PMC9341284 DOI: 10.3389/fncom.2022.784967] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2022] [Accepted: 06/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Affective empathy is an indispensable ability for humans and other species' harmonious social lives, motivating altruistic behavior, such as consolation and aid-giving. How to build an affective empathy computational model has attracted extensive attention in recent years. Most affective empathy models focus on the recognition and simulation of facial expressions or emotional speech of humans, namely Affective Computing. However, these studies lack the guidance of neural mechanisms of affective empathy. From a neuroscience perspective, affective empathy is formed gradually during the individual development process: experiencing own emotion—forming the corresponding Mirror Neuron System (MNS)—understanding the emotions of others through the mirror mechanism. Inspired by this neural mechanism, we constructed a brain-inspired affective empathy computational model, this model contains two submodels: (1) We designed an Artificial Pain Model inspired by the Free Energy Principle (FEP) to the simulate pain generation process in living organisms. (2) We build an affective empathy spiking neural network (AE-SNN) that simulates the mirror mechanism of MNS and has self-other differentiation ability. We apply the brain-inspired affective empathy computational model to the pain empathy and altruistic rescue task to achieve the rescue of companions by intelligent agents. To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first one to reproduce the emergence process of mirror neurons and anti-mirror neurons in the SNN field. Compared with traditional affective empathy computational models, our model is more biologically plausible, and it provides a new perspective for achieving artificial affective empathy, which has special potential for the social robots field in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hui Feng
- Research Center for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yi Zeng
- Research Center for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
- National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- *Correspondence: Yi Zeng
| | - Enmeng Lu
- Research Center for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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Loeb GE. Developing Intelligent Robots that Grasp Affordance. Front Robot AI 2022; 9:951293. [PMID: 35865329 PMCID: PMC9294137 DOI: 10.3389/frobt.2022.951293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2022] [Accepted: 06/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans and robots operating in unstructured environments both need to classify objects through haptic exploration and use them in various tasks, but currently they differ greatly in their strategies for acquiring such capabilities. This review explores nascent technologies that promise more convergence. A novel form of artificial intelligence classifies objects according to sensory percepts during active exploration and decides on efficient sequences of exploratory actions to identify objects. Representing objects according to the collective experience of manipulating them provides a substrate for discovering causality and affordances. Such concepts that generalize beyond explicit training experiences are an important aspect of human intelligence that has eluded robots. For robots to acquire such knowledge, they will need an extended period of active exploration and manipulation similar to that employed by infants. The efficacy, efficiency and safety of such behaviors depends on achieving smooth transitions between movements that change quickly from exploratory to executive to reflexive. Animals achieve such smoothness by using a hierarchical control scheme that is fundamentally different from those of conventional robotics. The lowest level of that hierarchy, the spinal cord, starts to self-organize during spontaneous movements in the fetus. This allows its connectivity to reflect the mechanics of the musculoskeletal plant, a bio-inspired process that could be used to adapt spinal-like middleware for robots. Implementation of these extended and essential stages of fetal and infant development is impractical, however, for mechatronic hardware that does not heal and replace itself like biological tissues. Instead such development can now be accomplished in silico and then cloned into physical robots, a strategy that could transcend human performance.
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Does mental practice or mirror therapy help prevent functional loss after distal radius fracture? A randomized controlled trial. J Hand Ther 2022; 35:86-96. [PMID: 33308929 DOI: 10.1016/j.jht.2020.10.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2019] [Revised: 10/15/2020] [Accepted: 10/22/2020] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
STUDY DESIGN A randomized, single-blinded controlled trial. INTRODUCTION Therapy results after distal radius fractures (DRF) especially with older patients are often suboptimal. One possible approach for counteracting the problems are motor-cognitive training interventions such as Mental Practice (MP) or Mirror Therapy (MT), which may be applied in early rehabilitation without stressing the injured wrist. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The aim of the study is to investigate the effects of MP and MT on wrist function after DRF. The pilot study should furthermore provide information about the feasibility of these methods. METHODS Thirty-one women were assigned either to one of the two experimental groups (MP, MT) or to a control group (relaxation intervention). The participants completed a training for six weeks, administered at their homes. Measurements were taken at four times (weeks 0, 3, 6 and 12) to document the progression in subjective function (PRWE, QuickDASH) and objective constraints of the wrist (ROM, grip strength) as well as in health-related quality of life (EQ-5D). RESULTS The results indicated that both experimental groups showed higher improvements across the intervention period compared to the control group; e.g. PRWE: MT 74.0%, MP 66.2%, CG 56.9%. While improvements in grip strength were higher for the MP group, the MT group performed better in all other measures. However, time by group interactions approached significance at best; e.g. ROM: P = .076; ηp2 = .141. CONCLUSION The superiority of MP as well as MT supports the simulation theory. Motor-cognitive intervention programs are feasible and promising therapy supplements, which may be applied in early rehabilitation to counteract the consequences of immobilization without stressing the injured wrist.
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Pitti A, Quoy M, Lavandier C, Boucenna S, Swaileh W, Weidmann C. In Search of a Neural Model for Serial Order: a Brain Theory for Memory Development and Higher-Level Cognition. IEEE Trans Cogn Dev Syst 2022. [DOI: 10.1109/tcds.2022.3168046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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9
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Imitation and mirror systems in robots through Deep Modality Blending Networks. Neural Netw 2021; 146:22-35. [PMID: 34839090 DOI: 10.1016/j.neunet.2021.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2021] [Revised: 09/29/2021] [Accepted: 11/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Learning to interact with the environment not only empowers the agent with manipulation capability but also generates information to facilitate building of action understanding and imitation capabilities. This seems to be a strategy adopted by biological systems, in particular primates, as evidenced by the existence of mirror neurons that seem to be involved in multi-modal action understanding. How to benefit from the interaction experience of the robots to enable understanding actions and goals of other agents is still a challenging question. In this study, we propose a novel method, deep modality blending networks (DMBN), that creates a common latent space from multi-modal experience of a robot by blending multi-modal signals with a stochastic weighting mechanism. We show for the first time that deep learning, when combined with a novel modality blending scheme, can facilitate action recognition and produce structures to sustain anatomical and effect-based imitation capabilities. Our proposed system, which is based on conditional neural processes, can be conditioned on any desired sensory/motor value at any time step, and can generate a complete multi-modal trajectory consistent with the desired conditioning in one-shot by querying the network for all the sampled time points in parallel avoiding the accumulation of prediction errors. Based on simulation experiments with an arm-gripper robot and an RGB camera, we showed that DMBN could make accurate predictions about any missing modality (camera or joint angles) given the available ones outperforming recent multimodal variational autoencoder models in terms of long-horizon high-dimensional trajectory predictions. We further showed that given desired images from different perspectives, i.e. images generated by the observation of other robots placed on different sides of the table, our system could generate image and joint angle sequences that correspond to either anatomical or effect-based imitation behavior. To achieve this mirror-like behavior, our system does not perform a pixel-based template matching but rather benefits from and relies on the common latent space constructed by using both joint and image modalities, as shown by additional experiments. Moreover, we showed that mirror learning (in our system) does not only depend on visual experience and cannot be achieved without proprioceptive experience. Our experiments showed that out of ten training scenarios with different initial configurations, the proposed DMBN model could achieve mirror learning in all of the cases where the model that only uses visual information failed in half of them. Overall, the proposed DMBN architecture not only serves as a computational model for sustaining mirror neuron-like capabilities, but also stands as a powerful machine learning architecture for high-dimensional multi-modal temporal data with robust retrieval capabilities operating with partial information in one or multiple modalities.
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Campbell MEJ, Nguyen VT, Cunnington R, Breakspear M. Insula cortex gates the interplay of action observation and preparation for controlled imitation. Neuropsychologia 2021; 161:108021. [PMID: 34517009 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.108021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2021] [Revised: 07/20/2021] [Accepted: 09/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Perceiving, anticipating and responding to the actions of another person are fundamentally entwined processes such that seeing another's movement can prompt automatic imitation, as in social mimicry and contagious yawning. Yet the direct-matching of others' movements is not always appropriate, so this tendency must be controlled. This necessitates the hierarchical integration of the systems for action mirroring with domain-general control networks. Here we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and computational modelling to examine the top-down and context-dependent modulation of mirror representations and their influence on motor planning. Participants performed actions that either intentionally or incidentally imitated, or counter-imitated, an observed action. Analyses of these fMRI data revealed a region in the mid-occipital gyrus (MOG) where activity differed between imitation versus counter-imitation in a manner that depended on whether this was intentional or incidental. To identify broader cortical network mechanisms underlying this interaction between intention and imitativeness, we used dynamic causal modelling to pose specific hypotheses which embody assumptions about inter-areal interactions and contextual modulations. These models each incorporated four regions - medial temporal V5 (early motion perception), MOG (action-observation), supplementary motor area (action planning), and anterior insula (executive control) - but differ in their interactions and hierarchical structure. The best model of our data afforded a crucial role for the anterior insula, gating the interaction of supplementary motor area and MOG activity. This provides a novel brain network-based account of task-dependent control over the integration of motor planning and mirror systems, with mirror responses suppressed for intentional counter-imitation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Vinh T Nguyen
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Australia
| | - Ross Cunnington
- Department of Psychology, University of Queensland, Australia
| | - Michael Breakspear
- School of Psychology, University of Newcastle, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia
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Kilteni K, Engeler P, Boberg I, Maurex L, Ehrsson HH. No evidence for somatosensory attenuation during action observation of self-touch. Eur J Neurosci 2021; 54:6422-6444. [PMID: 34463971 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15436] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2020] [Revised: 08/12/2021] [Accepted: 08/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The discovery of mirror neurons in the macaque brain in the 1990s triggered investigations on putative human mirror neurons and their potential functionality. The leading proposed function has been action understanding: Accordingly, we understand the actions of others by 'simulating' them in our own motor system through a direct matching of the visual information to our own motor programmes. Furthermore, it has been proposed that this simulation involves the prediction of the sensory consequences of the observed action, similar to the prediction of the sensory consequences of our executed actions. Here, we tested this proposal by quantifying somatosensory attenuation behaviourally during action observation. Somatosensory attenuation manifests during voluntary action and refers to the perception of self-generated touches as less intense than identical externally generated touches because the self-generated touches are predicted from the motor command. Therefore, we reasoned that if an observer simulates the observed action and, thus, he/she predicts its somatosensory consequences, then he/she should attenuate tactile stimuli simultaneously delivered to his/her corresponding body part. In three separate experiments, we found a systematic attenuation of touches during executed self-touch actions, but we found no evidence for attenuation when such actions were observed. Failure to observe somatosensory attenuation during observation of self-touch is not compatible with the hypothesis that the putative human mirror neuron system automatically predicts the sensory consequences of the observed action. In contrast, our findings emphasize a sharp distinction between the motor representations of self and others.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Patrick Engeler
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Ida Boberg
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Linnea Maurex
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - H Henrik Ehrsson
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
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Di Tella S, Blasi V, Cabinio M, Bergsland N, Buccino G, Baglio F. How Do We Motorically Resonate in Aging? A Compensatory Role of Prefrontal Cortex. Front Aging Neurosci 2021; 13:694676. [PMID: 34393758 PMCID: PMC8358457 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2021.694676] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2021] [Accepted: 06/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Aging is the major risk factor for chronic age-related neurological diseases such as neurodegenerative disorders and neurovascular injuries. Exploiting the multimodal nature of the Mirror Neuron System (MNS), rehabilitative interventions have been proposed based on motor-resonance mechanisms in recent years. Despite the considerable evidence of the MNS’ functionality in young adults, further investigation of the action-observation matching system is required in aging, where well-known structural and functional brain changes occur. Twenty-one healthy young adults (mean age 26.66y) and 19 healthy elderly participants (mean age 71.47y) underwent a single MRI evaluation including a T1-3D high-resolution and functional MRI (fMRI) with mirror task. Morphological and functional BOLD data were derived from MRI images to highlight cortical activations associated with the task; to detect differences between the two groups (Young, Elderly) in the two MRI indexes (BOLD and thickness z-scores) using mixed factorial ANOVA (Group∗Index analyses); and to investigate the presence of different cortical lateralization of the BOLD signal in the two groups. In the entire sample, the activation of a bilateral MNS fronto-parietal network was highlighted. The mixed ANOVA (pFDR-corr < 0.05) revealed significant interactions between BOLD signal and cortical thickness in left dorsal premotor cortex, right ventral premotor and prefrontal cortices. A different cortical lateralization of the BOLD signal in frontal lobe activity between groups was also found. Data herein reported suggest that age-related cortical thinning of the MNS is coupled with increased interhemispheric symmetry along with premotor and prefrontal cortex recruitment. These physiological changes of MNS resemble the aging of the motor and cognitive neural systems, suggesting specific but also common aging and compensatory mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sonia Di Tella
- Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ONLUS, Milan, Italy.,Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
| | - Valeria Blasi
- Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ONLUS, Milan, Italy
| | - Monia Cabinio
- Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ONLUS, Milan, Italy
| | - Niels Bergsland
- Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ONLUS, Milan, Italy.,Department of Neurology, Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, United States
| | - Giovanni Buccino
- Divisione di Neuroscienze, Università Vita e Salute San Raffaele e Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) San Raffaele, Milan, Italy
| | - Francesca Baglio
- Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ONLUS, Milan, Italy
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Derakhshan N, Yaghmaei S. Brain solutions for hearing problems during the COVID-19 pandemic and the misery of wearing a mask. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2020; 278:3105-3106. [PMID: 33230589 PMCID: PMC7682768 DOI: 10.1007/s00405-020-06470-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2020] [Accepted: 10/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND In COVID-19 pandemics days, wearing facial mask in public places has become obligatory to prevent the virus spread. In addition to its valuable protection, wearing facial mask can affect verbal communication in an adverse fashion and makes mutual understanding difficult. This happens because the mask eliminates the positive effect of the lip-reading phenomenon in direct communications. The mirror neuron system is responsible for automatic imitation, associative sequence learning, and motor mimicry. This system is a strong candidate justifying an unexpected action described in this article. PURPOSE Taking the facial mask off, to help the listener understanding better is a normal reaction. However, unexpectedly, one does the same as the listener when he/she is unable to comprehend the speaker. Herein, we suggest a hypothesis proposing the basic role of Mirror neuron system in this action. Most of the research on these cells have been conducted on monkeys, where the researchers observed that, these neuron discharge pulses both when a monkey performs an action and when it observes another monkey or a person committing the similar action. CONCLUSION The driving mechanism of an unanticipated action of taking off mask while listening to a speaker is emphasized in this paper. Herein, we try to clarify how we came up with the idea that mirror neuron system drives a surprising action observed in COVID-19 pandemics days. As a result, we suggest possible clinical studies to verify our hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nima Derakhshan
- Research Center for Neuromodulation and Pain, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Shekoofeh Yaghmaei
- General Practitioner, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Zand St., PO Box: 71348-14336, Shiraz, Iran.
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14
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Ohata W, Tani J. Investigation of the Sense of Agency in Social Cognition, Based on Frameworks of Predictive Coding and Active Inference: A Simulation Study on Multimodal Imitative Interaction. Front Neurorobot 2020; 14:61. [PMID: 33013346 PMCID: PMC7509423 DOI: 10.3389/fnbot.2020.00061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2020] [Accepted: 07/28/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
When agents interact socially with different intentions (or wills), conflicts are difficult to avoid. Although the means by which social agents can resolve such problems autonomously has not been determined, dynamic characteristics of agency may shed light on underlying mechanisms. Therefore, the current study focused on the sense of agency, a specific aspect of agency referring to congruence between the agent's intention in acting and the outcome, especially in social interaction contexts. Employing predictive coding and active inference as theoretical frameworks of perception and action generation, we hypothesize that regulation of complexity in the evidence lower bound of an agent's model should affect the strength of the agent's sense of agency and should have a significant impact on social interactions. To evaluate this hypothesis, we built a computational model of imitative interaction between a robot and a human via visuo-proprioceptive sensation with a variational Bayes recurrent neural network, and simulated the model in the form of pseudo-imitative interaction using recorded human body movement data, which serve as the counterpart in the interactions. A key feature of the model is that the complexity of each modality can be regulated differently by changing the values of a hyperparameter assigned to each local module of the model. We first searched for an optimal setting of hyperparameters that endow the model with appropriate coordination of multimodal sensation. These searches revealed that complexity of the vision module should be more tightly regulated than that of the proprioception module because of greater uncertainty in visual information flow. Using this optimally trained model as a default model, we investigated how changing the tightness of complexity regulation in the entire network after training affects the strength of the sense of agency during imitative interactions. The results showed that with looser regulation of complexity, an agent tends to act more egocentrically, without adapting to the other. In contrast, with tighter regulation, the agent tends to follow the other by adjusting its intention. We conclude that the tightness of complexity regulation significantly affects the strength of the sense of agency and the dynamics of interactions between agents in social settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wataru Ohata
- Cognitive Neurorobotics Research Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Jun Tani
- Cognitive Neurorobotics Research Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan
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15
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Xiong X, Yu Z, Ma T, Luo N, Wang H, Lu X, Fan H. Weighted Brain Network Metrics for Decoding Action Intention Understanding Based on EEG. Front Hum Neurosci 2020; 14:232. [PMID: 32714168 PMCID: PMC7343772 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.00232] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2020] [Accepted: 05/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Understanding the action intentions of others is important for social and human-robot interactions. Recently, many state-of-the-art approaches have been proposed for decoding action intention understanding. Although these methods have some advantages, it is still necessary to design other tools that can more efficiently classify the action intention understanding signals. New Method: Based on EEG, we first applied phase lag index (PLI) and weighted phase lag index (WPLI) to construct functional connectivity matrices in five frequency bands and 63 micro-time windows, then calculated nine graph metrics from these matrices and subsequently used the network metrics as features to classify different brain signals related to action intention understanding. Results: Compared with the single methods (PLI or WPLI), the combination method (PLI+WPLI) demonstrates some overwhelming victories. Most of the average classification accuracies exceed 70%, and some of them approach 80%. In statistical tests of brain network, many significantly different edges appear in the frontal, occipital, parietal, and temporal regions. Conclusions: Weighted brain networks can effectively retain data information. The integrated method proposed in this study is extremely effective for investigating action intention understanding. Both the mirror neuron and mentalizing systems participate as collaborators in the process of action intention understanding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xingliang Xiong
- Key Laboratory of Child Development and Learning Science of Ministry of Education, School of Biological Science & Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Zhenhua Yu
- College of Computer Science and Technology, Xi'an University of Science and Technology, Xi'an, China
| | - Tian Ma
- College of Computer Science and Technology, Xi'an University of Science and Technology, Xi'an, China
| | - Ning Luo
- Institute of Software, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Haixian Wang
- Key Laboratory of Child Development and Learning Science of Ministry of Education, School of Biological Science & Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Xuesong Lu
- Department of Rehabilitation, Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Hui Fan
- Co-innovation Center of Shandong Colleges and Universities: Future Intelligent Computing, Shandong Technology and Business University, Yantai, China
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16
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Xiong X, Yu Z, Ma T, Wang H, Lu X, Fan H. Classifying action intention understanding EEG signals based on weighted brain network metric features. Biomed Signal Process Control 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bspc.2020.101893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
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17
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Farina E, Borgnis F, Pozzo T. Mirror neurons and their relationship with neurodegenerative disorders. J Neurosci Res 2020; 98:1070-1094. [DOI: 10.1002/jnr.24579] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2019] [Revised: 12/09/2019] [Accepted: 12/10/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Thierry Pozzo
- INSERM UMR1093‐CAPS, Université Bourgogne Franche‐Comté Dijon France
- IT@UniFe Center for Translational Neurophysiology Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia Ferrara Italy
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18
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Oh H, Braun AR, Reggia JA, Gentili RJ. Fronto-parietal mirror neuron system modeling: Visuospatial transformations support imitation learning independently of imitator perspective. Hum Mov Sci 2019; 65:S0167-9457(17)30942-9. [DOI: 10.1016/j.humov.2018.05.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2017] [Revised: 05/15/2018] [Accepted: 05/25/2018] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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19
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Li M, He B, Liang Z, Zhao CG, Chen J, Zhuo Y, Xu G, Xie J, Althoefer K. An Attention-Controlled Hand Exoskeleton for the Rehabilitation of Finger Extension and Flexion Using a Rigid-Soft Combined Mechanism. Front Neurorobot 2019; 13:34. [PMID: 31231203 PMCID: PMC6558380 DOI: 10.3389/fnbot.2019.00034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2018] [Accepted: 05/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Hand rehabilitation exoskeletons are in need of improving key features such as simplicity, compactness, bi-directional actuation, low cost, portability, safe human-robotic interaction, and intuitive control. This article presents a brain-controlled hand exoskeleton based on a multi-segment mechanism driven by a steel spring. Active rehabilitation training is realized using a threshold of the attention value measured by an electroencephalography (EEG) sensor as a brain-controlled switch for the hand exoskeleton. We present a prototype implementation of this rigid-soft combined multi-segment mechanism with active training and provide a preliminary evaluation. The experimental results showed that the proposed mechanism could generate enough range of motion with a single input by distributing an actuated linear motion into the rotational motions of finger joints during finger flexion/extension. The average attention value in the experiment of concentration with visual guidance was significantly higher than that in the experiment without visual guidance. The feasibility of the attention-based control with visual guidance was proven with an overall exoskeleton actuation success rate of 95.54% (14 human subjects). In the exoskeleton actuation experiment using the general threshold, it performed just as good as using the customized thresholds; therefore, a general threshold of the attention value can be set for a certain group of users in hand exoskeleton activation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Li
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.,State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Bo He
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Ziting Liang
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Chen-Guang Zhao
- Department of Rehabilitation, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China
| | - Jiazhou Chen
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Yueyan Zhuo
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Guanghua Xu
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.,State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Jun Xie
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.,State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Kaspar Althoefer
- Faculty of Science & Engineering, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
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20
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The complexity of understanding others as the evolutionary origin of empathy and emotional contagion. Sci Rep 2019; 9:5794. [PMID: 30962461 PMCID: PMC6453980 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-41835-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2018] [Accepted: 03/07/2019] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Contagious yawning, emotional contagion and empathy are characterized by the activation of similar neurophysiological states or responses in an observed individual and an observer. For example, it is hard to keep one’s mouth closed when imagining someone yawning, or not feeling distressed while observing other individuals perceiving pain. The evolutionary origin of these widespread phenomena is unclear, since a direct benefit is not always apparent. We explore a game theoretical model for the evolution of mind-reading strategies, used to predict and respond to others’ behavior. In particular we explore the evolutionary scenarios favoring simulative strategies, which recruit overlapping neural circuits when performing as well as when observing a specific behavior. We show that these mechanisms are advantageous in complex environments, by allowing an observer to use information about its own behavior to interpret that of others. However, without inhibition of the recruited neural circuits, the observer would perform the corresponding downstream action, rather than produce the appropriate social response. We identify evolutionary trade-offs that could hinder this inhibition, leading to emotional contagion as a by-product of mind-reading. The interaction of this model with kinship is complex. We show that empathy likely evolved in a scenario where kin- and other indirect benefits co-opt strategies originally evolved for mind-reading, and that this model explains observed patterns of emotional contagion with kin or group members.
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21
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Marmeleira J, Duarte Santos G. Do Not Neglect the Body and Action: The Emergence of Embodiment Approaches to Understanding Human Development. Percept Mot Skills 2019; 126:410-445. [PMID: 30841786 DOI: 10.1177/0031512519834389] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
It is becoming clear that to truly understand what it is to be human, focusing scientific efforts on the mind alone is insufficient. We are embodied minds, living and acting in a world full of meaningful things. In this article, we discuss how science has been informed by important research insights into the close relationship between the body, the mind, and the world. These interactions can be translated into embodied perspectives of human development. We provide evidence that perception, cognition, emotion, human relations, and behavior are grounded in our bodies from the beginning of our lives. From this perspective, the body cannot be assumed to be simply an effector for cognition or an instrument for collecting information for the brain. This comprehensive review and debate of embodied-related literature is accompanied by the identification of theoretical challenges and practical applications that will shape research for years to come.
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Affiliation(s)
- José Marmeleira
- 1 Department of Sport and Health, School of Sciences and Technology, University of Évora, Portugal
- 2 Comprehensive Health Research Centre, University of Évora, Portugal
- 3 Research Centre in Sports Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development (CIDESD), Portugal
| | - Graça Duarte Santos
- 4 Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Évora, Portugal
- 5 Research Center in Education and Psychology, University of Évora, Portugal
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22
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Saltuklaroglu T, Bowers A, Harkrider AW, Casenhiser D, Reilly KJ, Jenson DE, Thornton D. EEG mu rhythms: Rich sources of sensorimotor information in speech processing. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2018; 187:41-61. [PMID: 30509381 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2018.09.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2017] [Revised: 09/27/2017] [Accepted: 09/23/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Tim Saltuklaroglu
- Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of Tennessee Health Sciences, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
| | - Andrew Bowers
- University of Arkansas, Epley Center for Health Professions, 606 N. Razorback Road, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA
| | - Ashley W Harkrider
- Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of Tennessee Health Sciences, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
| | - Devin Casenhiser
- Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of Tennessee Health Sciences, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
| | - Kevin J Reilly
- Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of Tennessee Health Sciences, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
| | - David E Jenson
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, Spokane, WA 99210-1495, USA
| | - David Thornton
- Department of Hearing, Speech, and Language Sciences, Gallaudet University, 800 Florida Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20002, USA
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23
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Differential recruitment of theory of mind brain network across three tasks: An independent component analysis. Behav Brain Res 2018; 347:385-393. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2018.03.041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2017] [Revised: 03/05/2018] [Accepted: 03/26/2018] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
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24
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Barreto-Silva V, Bigliassi M, Chierotti P, Altimari LR. Psychophysiological effects of audiovisual stimuli during cycle exercise. Eur J Sport Sci 2018. [PMID: 29529938 DOI: 10.1080/17461391.2018.1439534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
Immersive environments induced by audiovisual stimuli are hypothesised to facilitate the control of movements and ameliorate fatigue-related symptoms during exercise. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of pleasant and unpleasant audiovisual stimuli on perceptual and psychophysiological responses during moderate-intensity exercises performed on an electromagnetically braked cycle ergometer. Twenty young adults were administered three experimental conditions in a randomised and counterbalanced order: unpleasant stimulus (US; e.g. images depicting laboured breathing); pleasant stimulus (PS; e.g. images depicting pleasant emotions); and neutral stimulus (NS; e.g. neutral facial expressions). The exercise had 10 min of duration (2 min of warm-up + 6 min of exercise + 2 min of warm-down). During all conditions, the rate of perceived exertion and heart rate variability were monitored to further understanding of the moderating influence of audiovisual stimuli on perceptual and psychophysiological responses, respectively. The results of the present study indicate that PS ameliorated fatigue-related symptoms and reduced the physiological stress imposed by the exercise bout. Conversely, US increased the global activity of the autonomic nervous system and increased exertional responses to a greater degree when compared to PS. Accordingly, audiovisual stimuli appear to induce a psychophysiological response in which individuals visualise themselves within the story presented in the video. In such instances, individuals appear to copy the behaviour observed in the videos as if the situation was real. This mirroring mechanism has the potential to up-/down-regulate the cardiac work as if in fact the exercise intensities were different in each condition.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Marcelo Bigliassi
- b Department of Life Sciences , Brunel University London , Uxbridge , UK
| | - Priscila Chierotti
- a Department of Physical Education , Londrina State University , Paraná , Brazil
| | - Leandro R Altimari
- a Department of Physical Education , Londrina State University , Paraná , Brazil
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25
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Li M, Xu G, Xie J, Chen C. A review: Motor rehabilitation after stroke with control based on human intent. Proc Inst Mech Eng H 2018; 232:344-360. [PMID: 29409401 DOI: 10.1177/0954411918755828] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Strokes are a leading cause of acquired disability worldwide, and there is a significant need for novel interventions and further research to facilitate functional motor recovery in stroke patients. This article reviews motor rehabilitation methods for stroke survivors with a focus on rehabilitation controlled by human motor intent. The review begins with the neurodevelopmental principles of motor rehabilitation that provide the neuroscientific basis for intuitively controlled rehabilitation, followed by a review of methods allowing human motor intent detection, biofeedback approaches, and quantitative motor rehabilitation assessment. Challenges for future advances in motor rehabilitation after stroke using intuitively controlled approaches are addressed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Li
- 1 School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Guanghua Xu
- 1 School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Jun Xie
- 1 School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Chaoyang Chen
- 2 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA
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26
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Campbell MEJ, Mehrkanoon S, Cunnington R. Intentionally not imitating: Insula cortex engaged for top-down control of action mirroring. Neuropsychologia 2018; 111:241-251. [PMID: 29408525 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.01.037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2017] [Revised: 01/19/2018] [Accepted: 01/24/2018] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Perception and action are inextricably linked, down to the level of single cells which have both visual and motor response properties - dubbed 'mirror neurons'. The mirror neuron system is generally associated with direct-matching or resonance between observed and executed actions (and goals). Yet in everyday interactions responding to another's movements with matching actions (or goals) is not always appropriate. Here we examine processes associated with intentionally not imitating, as separable from merely detecting an observed action as mismatching one's own. Using fMRI, we test how matched and mismatched stimulus-response mapping for actions is modulated depending on task-relevance. Participants were either cued to intentionally copy or oppose a presented action (intentional imitation or counter-imitation), or cued to perform a predefined action regardless of the presented action (incidental imitation or counter-imitation). We found distinct cortical networks underlying imitation compared to counter-imitation, involving areas typically associated with an action observation network and widespread occipital activation. Intentionally counter-imitating particularly involved frontal-parietal networks, including the insula and cingulate cortices. This task-dependent recruitment of frontal networks for the intentional selection of opposing responses supports previous evidence for the preparatory suppression of imitative responses. Sensorimotor mirroring is modulated via control processes, which complex human interactions often require.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan E J Campbell
- The Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, Australia.
| | - Steve Mehrkanoon
- The Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, Australia
| | - Ross Cunnington
- The Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, Australia; School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, Australia
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27
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Wilson PH, Smits-Engelsman B, Caeyenberghs K, Steenbergen B, Sugden D, Clark J, Mumford N, Blank R. Cognitive and neuroimaging findings in developmental coordination disorder: new insights from a systematic review of recent research. Dev Med Child Neurol 2017; 59:1117-1129. [PMID: 28872667 DOI: 10.1111/dmcn.13530] [Citation(s) in RCA: 149] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/17/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
AIM To better understand the neural and performance factors that may underlie developmental coordination disorder (DCD), and implications for a multi-component account. METHOD A systematic review of the experimental literature published between June 2011 and September 2016 was conducted using a modified PICOS (population, intervention, comparison, outcomes, and study type) framework. A total of 106 studies were included. RESULTS Behavioural data from 91 studies showed a broad cluster of deficits in the anticipatory control of movement, basic processes of motor learning, and cognitive control. Importantly, however, performance issues in DCD were often shown to be moderated by task type and difficulty. As well, we saw new evidence of compensatory processes and strategies in several studies. Neuroimaging data (15 studies, including electroencephalography) showed reduced cortical thickness in the right medial orbitofrontal cortex and altered brain activation patterns across functional networks involving prefrontal, parietal, and cerebellar regions in children with DCD than those in comparison groups. Data from diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging suggested reduced white matter organization involving sensorimotor structures and altered structural connectivity across the whole brain network. INTERPRETATION Taken together, results support the hypothesis that children with DCD show differences in brain structure and function compared with typically developing children. Behaviourally, these differences may affect anticipatory planning and reduce automatization of movement skill, prompting greater reliance on slower feedback-based control and compensatory strategies. Implications for future research, theory development, and clinical practice are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter H Wilson
- School of Psychology, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Centre for Disability and Development Research, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Bouwien Smits-Engelsman
- Department of Health and Rehabilitation Services, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Karen Caeyenberghs
- School of Psychology, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Centre for Disability and Development Research, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Bert Steenbergen
- Centre for Disability and Development Research, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - David Sugden
- School of Special Needs Education, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Jane Clark
- School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - Nick Mumford
- Centre for Disability and Development Research, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Rainer Blank
- Institute of Public Health, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.,Child Centre, Maulbronn, Germany
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28
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Wiese E, Metta G, Wykowska A. Robots As Intentional Agents: Using Neuroscientific Methods to Make Robots Appear More Social. Front Psychol 2017; 8:1663. [PMID: 29046651 PMCID: PMC5632653 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01663] [Citation(s) in RCA: 105] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2017] [Accepted: 09/11/2017] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Robots are increasingly envisaged as our future cohabitants. However, while considerable progress has been made in recent years in terms of their technological realization, the ability of robots to interact with humans in an intuitive and social way is still quite limited. An important challenge for social robotics is to determine how to design robots that can perceive the user's needs, feelings, and intentions, and adapt to users over a broad range of cognitive abilities. It is conceivable that if robots were able to adequately demonstrate these skills, humans would eventually accept them as social companions. We argue that the best way to achieve this is using a systematic experimental approach based on behavioral and physiological neuroscience methods such as motion/eye-tracking, electroencephalography, or functional near-infrared spectroscopy embedded in interactive human-robot paradigms. This approach requires understanding how humans interact with each other, how they perform tasks together and how they develop feelings of social connection over time, and using these insights to formulate design principles that make social robots attuned to the workings of the human brain. In this review, we put forward the argument that the likelihood of artificial agents being perceived as social companions can be increased by designing them in a way that they are perceived as intentional agents that activate areas in the human brain involved in social-cognitive processing. We first review literature related to social-cognitive processes and mechanisms involved in human-human interactions, and highlight the importance of perceiving others as intentional agents to activate these social brain areas. We then discuss how attribution of intentionality can positively affect human-robot interaction by (a) fostering feelings of social connection, empathy and prosociality, and by (b) enhancing performance on joint human-robot tasks. Lastly, we describe circumstances under which attribution of intentionality to robot agents might be disadvantageous, and discuss challenges associated with designing social robots that are inspired by neuroscientific principles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva Wiese
- Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, United States
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29
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Spatial and viewpoint selectivity for others' observed actions in monkey ventral premotor mirror neurons. Sci Rep 2017; 7:8231. [PMID: 28811605 PMCID: PMC5557915 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-08956-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2017] [Accepted: 07/17/2017] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
The spatial location and viewpoint of observed actions are closely linked in natural social settings. For example, actions observed from a subjective viewpoint necessarily occur within the observer’s peripersonal space. Neurophysiological studies have shown that mirror neurons (MNs) of the monkey ventral premotor area F5 can code the spatial location of live observed actions. Furthermore, F5 MN discharge can also be modulated by the viewpoint from which filmed actions are seen. Nonetheless, whether and to what extent MNs can integrate viewpoint and spatial location of live observed actions remains unknown. We addressed this issue by comparing the activity of 148 F5 MNs while macaque monkeys observed an experimenter grasping in three different combinations of viewpoint and spatial location, namely, lateral view in the (1) extrapersonal and (2) peripersonal space and (3) subjective view in the peripersonal space. We found that the majority of MNs were space-selective (60.8%): those selective for the peripersonal space exhibited a preference for the subjective viewpoint both at the single-neuron and population level, whereas space-unselective neurons were view invariant. These findings reveal the existence of a previously neglected link between spatial and viewpoint selectivity in MN activity during live-action observation.
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Echoes on the motor network: how internal motor control structures afford sensory experience. Brain Struct Funct 2017; 222:3865-3888. [DOI: 10.1007/s00429-017-1484-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2017] [Accepted: 07/25/2017] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
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Binder E, Dovern A, Hesse MD, Ebke M, Karbe H, Saliger J, Fink GR, Weiss PH. Lesion evidence for a human mirror neuron system. Cortex 2017; 90:125-137. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.02.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2016] [Revised: 02/10/2017] [Accepted: 02/14/2017] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
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Beta rhythm modulation by speech sounds: somatotopic mapping in somatosensory cortex. Sci Rep 2016; 6:31182. [PMID: 27499204 PMCID: PMC4976318 DOI: 10.1038/srep31182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2016] [Accepted: 07/13/2016] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
During speech listening motor regions are somatotopically activated, resembling the activity that subtends actual speech production, suggesting that motor commands can be retrieved from sensory inputs. Crucially, the efficient motor control of the articulators relies on the accurate anticipation of the somatosensory reafference. Nevertheless, evidence about somatosensory activities elicited by auditory speech processing is sparse. The present work looked for specific interactions between auditory speech presentation and somatosensory cortical information processing. We used an auditory speech identification task with sounds having different place of articulation (bilabials and dentals). We tested whether coupling the auditory task with a peripheral electrical stimulation of the lips would affect the pattern of sensorimotor electroencephalographic rhythms. Peripheral electrical stimulation elicits a series of spectral perturbations of which the beta rebound reflects the return-to-baseline stage of somatosensory processing. We show a left-lateralized and selective reduction in the beta rebound following lip somatosensory stimulation when listening to speech sounds produced with the lips (i.e. bilabials). Thus, the somatosensory processing could not return to baseline due to the recruitment of the same neural resources by speech stimuli. Our results are a clear demonstration that heard speech sounds are somatotopically mapped onto somatosensory cortices, according to place of articulation.
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Abstract
Mirror neurons (MNs) are a fascinating class of cells originally discovered in the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) and, subsequently, in the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) of the macaque, which become active during both the execution and observation of actions. In this review, I will first highlight the mounting evidence indicating that mirroring others’ actions engages a broad system of reciprocally connected cortical areas, which extends well beyond the classical IPL-PMv circuit and might even include subcortical regions such as the basal ganglia. Then, I will present the most recent findings supporting the idea that the observation of one’s own actions, which might play a role in the ontogenetic origin and tuning of MNs, retains a particular relevance within the adult MN system. Finally, I will propose that both cortical and subcortical mechanisms do exist to decouple MN activity from the motor output, in order to render it exploitable for high-order perceptual, cognitive, and even social functions. The findings reviewed here provide an original framework for envisaging the main challenges and experimental directions of future neurophysiological and neuroanatomical studies of the monkey MN system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Bonini
- Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Brain Center for Social and Motor Cognition, and Department of Neuroscience, Parma, Italy
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Oi M, Ito H, Saito H, Meng S, Palacios VA. Cognitive empathy modulates the visual perception of human-like body postures without imitation. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2016. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2015.1127250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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Arbib MA. Primates, computation, and the path to language. Phys Life Rev 2016; 16:105-22. [DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2016.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2016] [Accepted: 02/04/2016] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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Fardoun HM, Mashat AS. Methodologies, Models and Algorithms for Patients Rehabilitation. Methods Inf Med 2015; 55:60-4. [PMID: 26660533 DOI: 10.3414/me14-11-0001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION This editorial is part of the Focus Theme of Methods of Information in Medicine on "Methodologies, Models and Algorithms for Patients Rehabilitation". OBJECTIVE The objective of this focus theme is to present current solutions by means of technologies and human factors related to the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for improving patient rehabilitation. METHODS The focus theme examines distinctive measurements of strengthening methodologies, models and algorithms for disabled people in terms of rehabilitation and health care, and to explore the extent to which ICT is a useful tool in this process. RESULTS The focus theme records a set of solutions for ICT systems developed to improve the rehabilitation process of disabled people and to help them in carrying out their daily life. CONCLUSIONS The development and subsequent setting up of computers for the patients' rehabilitation process is of continuous interest and growth.
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Affiliation(s)
- H M Fardoun
- Habib M. Fardoun, Information Systems Department, Faculty of Computing and information Technology, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, E-mail:
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Alves J, Vourvopoulos A, Bernardino A, Bermúdez I Badia S. Eye Gaze Correlates of Motor Impairment in VR Observation of Motor Actions. Methods Inf Med 2015; 55:79-83. [PMID: 26640834 DOI: 10.3414/me14-01-0125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2014] [Accepted: 10/06/2015] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION This article is part of the Focus Theme of Methods of Information in Medicine on "Methodologies, Models and Algorithms for Patients Rehabilitation". OBJECTIVE Identify eye gaze correlates of motor impairment in a virtual reality motor observation task in a study with healthy participants and stroke patients. METHODS Participants consisted of a group of healthy subjects (N = 20) and a group of stroke survivors (N = 10). Both groups were required to observe a simple reach-and-grab and place-and-release task in a virtual environment. Additionally, healthy subjects were required to observe the task in a normal condition and a constrained movement condition. Eye movements were recorded during the observation task for later analysis. RESULTS For healthy participants, results showed differences in gaze metrics when comparing the normal and arm-constrained conditions. Differences in gaze metrics were also found when comparing dominant and non-dominant arm for saccades and smooth pursuit events. For stroke patients, results showed longer smooth pursuit segments in action observation when observing the paretic arm, thus providing evidence that the affected circuitry may be activated for eye gaze control during observation of the simulated motor action. CONCLUSIONS This study suggests that neural motor circuits are involved, at multiple levels, in observation of motor actions displayed in a virtual reality environment. Thus, eye tracking combined with action observation tasks in a virtual reality display can be used to monitor motor deficits derived from stroke, and consequently can also be used for rehabilitation of stroke patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Alves
- Júlio Alves, Madeira-ITI, Polo Científico e Tecnológico da Madeira, Floor -2, Caminho da Penteada, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal, E-mail:
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Processing of Own Hand Visual Feedback during Object Grasping in Ventral Premotor Mirror Neurons. J Neurosci 2015; 35:11824-9. [PMID: 26311766 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0301-15.2015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
UNLABELLED Mirror neurons (MNs) discharge during action execution as well as during observation of others' actions. Our own actions are those that we have the opportunity to observe more frequently, but no study thus far to our knowledge has addressed the issue of whether, and to what extent, MNs can code own hand visual feedback (HVF) during object grasping. Here, we show that MNs of the ventral premotor area F5 of macaque monkeys are particularly sensitive to HVF relative to non-MNs simultaneously recorded in the same penetrations. Importantly, the HVF effect is more evident on MN activity during hand-object interaction than during the hand-shaping phase. Furthermore, the increase of MN activity induced by HVF and others' actions observed from a subjective perspective were positively correlated. These findings indicate that at least part of ventral premotor MNs can process the visual information coming from own hand interacting with objects, likely playing a role in self-action monitoring. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We show that mirror neurons (MNs) of area F5 of the macaque, in addition to encoding others' observed actions, are particularly sensitive, relative to simultaneously recorded non-MNs, to the sight of the monkey's own hand during object grasping, likely playing a role in self-action monitoring.
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Arbib MA. Towards a Computational Comparative Neuroprimatology: Framing the language-ready brain. Phys Life Rev 2015; 16:1-54. [PMID: 26482863 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2015.09.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2015] [Revised: 09/11/2015] [Accepted: 09/22/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
We make the case for developing a Computational Comparative Neuroprimatology to inform the analysis of the function and evolution of the human brain. First, we update the mirror system hypothesis on the evolution of the language-ready brain by (i) modeling action and action recognition and opportunistic scheduling of macaque brains to hypothesize the nature of the last common ancestor of macaque and human (LCA-m); and then we (ii) introduce dynamic brain modeling to show how apes could acquire gesture through ontogenetic ritualization, hypothesizing the nature of evolution from LCA-m to the last common ancestor of chimpanzee and human (LCA-c). We then (iii) hypothesize the role of imitation, pantomime, protosign and protospeech in biological and cultural evolution from LCA-c to Homo sapiens with a language-ready brain. Second, we suggest how cultural evolution in Homo sapiens led from protolanguages to full languages with grammar and compositional semantics. Third, we assess the similarities and differences between the dorsal and ventral streams in audition and vision as the basis for presenting and comparing two models of language processing in the human brain: A model of (i) the auditory dorsal and ventral streams in sentence comprehension; and (ii) the visual dorsal and ventral streams in defining "what language is about" in both production and perception of utterances related to visual scenes provide the basis for (iii) a first step towards a synthesis and a look at challenges for further research.
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Andrews SC, Enticott PG, Hoy KE, Thomson RH, Fitzgerald PB. No evidence for mirror system dysfunction in schizophrenia from a multimodal TMS/EEG study. Psychiatry Res 2015; 228:431-40. [PMID: 26154818 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2015.05.067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2014] [Revised: 05/20/2015] [Accepted: 05/25/2015] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Dysfunctional mirror neuron systems have been proposed to contribute to the social cognitive deficits observed in schizophrenia. A few studies have explored mirror systems in schizophrenia using various techniques such as TMS (levels of motor resonance) or EEG (levels of mu suppression), with mixed results. This study aimed to use a novel multimodal approach (i.e. concurrent TMS and EEG) to further investigate mirror systems and social cognition in schizophrenia. Nineteen individuals with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and 19 healthy controls participated. Single-pulse TMS was applied to M1 during the observation of hand movements designed to elicit mirror system activity. Single EEG electrodes (C3, CZ, C4) recorded brain activity. Participants also completed facial affect recognition and theory of mind tasks. The schizophrenia group showed significant deficits in facial affect recognition and higher level theory of mind compared to healthy controls. A significant positive relationship was revealed between mu suppression and motor resonance for the overall sample, indicating concurrent validity of these measures. Levels of mu suppression and motor resonance were not significantly different between groups. These findings indicate that in stable outpatients with schizophrenia, mirror system functioning is intact, and therefore their social cognitive difficulties may be caused by alternative pathophysiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie C Andrews
- School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia; Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, The Alfred and Central Clinical School Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
| | - Peter G Enticott
- Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, The Alfred and Central Clinical School Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia
| | - Kate E Hoy
- Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, The Alfred and Central Clinical School Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Richard H Thomson
- Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, The Alfred and Central Clinical School Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Paul B Fitzgerald
- Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, The Alfred and Central Clinical School Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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Reader AT, Holmes NP. Video stimuli reduce object-directed imitation accuracy: a novel two-person motion-tracking approach. Front Psychol 2015; 6:644. [PMID: 26042073 PMCID: PMC4436526 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00644] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2015] [Accepted: 05/02/2015] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Imitation is an important form of social behavior, and research has aimed to discover and explain the neural and kinematic aspects of imitation. However, much of this research has featured single participants imitating in response to pre-recorded video stimuli. This is in spite of findings that show reduced neural activation to video vs. real life movement stimuli, particularly in the motor cortex. We investigated the degree to which video stimuli may affect the imitation process using a novel motion tracking paradigm with high spatial and temporal resolution. We recorded 14 positions on the hands, arms, and heads of two individuals in an imitation experiment. One individual freely moved within given parameters (moving balls across a series of pegs) and a second participant imitated. This task was performed with either simple (one ball) or complex (three balls) movement difficulty, and either face-to-face or via a live video projection. After an exploratory analysis, three dependent variables were chosen for examination: 3D grip position, joint angles in the arm, and grip aperture. A cross-correlation and multivariate analysis revealed that object-directed imitation task accuracy (as represented by grip position) was reduced in video compared to face-to-face feedback, and in complex compared to simple difficulty. This was most prevalent in the left-right and forward-back motions, relevant to the imitator sitting face-to-face with the actor or with a live projected video of the same actor. The results suggest that for tasks which require object-directed imitation, video stimuli may not be an ecologically valid way to present task materials. However, no similar effects were found in the joint angle and grip aperture variables, suggesting that there are limits to the influence of video stimuli on imitation. The implications of these results are discussed with regards to previous findings, and with suggestions for future experimentation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arran T Reader
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading Reading, UK
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Andrews SC, Enticott PG, Hoy KE, Thomson RH, Fitzgerald PB. Reduced mu suppression and altered motor resonance in euthymic bipolar disorder: Evidence for a dysfunctional mirror system? Soc Neurosci 2015; 11:60-71. [DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2015.1029140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Maeda K, Ishida H, Nakajima K, Inase M, Murata A. Functional Properties of Parietal Hand Manipulation–related Neurons and Mirror Neurons Responding to Vision of Own Hand Action. J Cogn Neurosci 2015; 27:560-72. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Parietofrontal pathways play an important role in visually guided motor control. In this pathway, hand manipulation-related neurons in the inferior parietal lobule represent 3-D properties of an object and motor patterns to grasp it. Furthermore, mirror neurons show visual responses that are concerned with the actions of others and motor-related activity during execution of the same grasping action. Because both of these categories of neurons integrate visual and motor signals, these neurons may play a role in motor control based on visual feedback signals. The aim of this study was to investigate whether these neurons in inferior parietal lobule including the anterior intraparietal area and PFG of macaques represent visual images of the monkey's own hand during a self-generated grasping action. We recorded 235 neurons related to hand manipulation tasks. Of these, 54 responded to video clips of the monkey's own hand action, the same as visual feedback during that action or clips of the experimenter's hand action in a lateral view. Of these 54 neurons, 25 responded to video clips of the monkey's own hand, even without an image of the target object. We designated these 25 neurons as “hand-type.” Thirty-three of 54 neurons that were defined as mirror neurons showed visual responses to the experimenter's action and motor responses. Thirteen of these mirror neurons were classified as hand-type. These results suggest that activity of hand manipulation-related and mirror neurons in anterior intraparietal/PFG plays a fundamental role in monitoring one's own body state based on visual feedback.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kazutaka Maeda
- 1Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, Osakasayama, Japan
- 2Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan
| | | | | | - Masahiko Inase
- 1Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, Osakasayama, Japan
| | - Akira Murata
- 1Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, Osakasayama, Japan
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Gentili RJ, Oh H, Huang DW, Katz GE, Miller RH, Reggia JA. A Neural Architecture for Performing Actual and Mentally Simulated Movements During Self-Intended and Observed Bimanual Arm Reaching Movements. Int J Soc Robot 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s12369-014-0276-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Ko KE, Sim KB. Imitative Neural Mechanism-Based Behavior Intention Recognition System in Human–Robot Interaction. INT J HUM ROBOT 2014. [DOI: 10.1142/s0219843614420080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
This paper is concerned with an imitative neural mechanism for recognizing behavior intention in human–robot interaction system. The intention recognition process is inspired by the neural mechanism of the mirror neurons in macaque monkey brain. We try to renovate a standard neural network with parametric biases as a reference model to imitate between sensory-motor data pair. The imitation process is primarily directed toward reproducing the goals of observed actions rather than the exact action trajectories. Several experiments and their results show that the proposed model allows to develop useful robotic application for human–robot interaction system application.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kwang-Eun Ko
- School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-Ro Dongjak-Gu, Seoul 156-756, Republic of Korea
| | - Kwee-Bo Sim
- School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-Ro Dongjak-Gu, Seoul 156-756, Republic of Korea
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Demiris Y, Aziz-Zadeh L, Bonaiuto J. Information processing in the mirror neuron system in primates and machines. Neuroinformatics 2014; 12:63-91. [PMID: 24085487 DOI: 10.1007/s12021-013-9200-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The mirror neuron system in primates matches observations of actions with the motor representations used for their execution, and is a topic of intense research and debate in biological and computational disciplines. In robotics, models of this system have been used for enabling robots to imitate and learn how to perform tasks from human demonstrations. Yet, existing computational and robotic models of these systems are found in multiple levels of description, and although some models offer plausible explanations and testable predictions, the difference in the granularity of the experimental setups, methodologies, computational structures and selected modeled data make principled meta-analyses, common in other fields, difficult. In this paper, we adopt an interdisciplinary approach, using the BODB integrated environment in order to bring together several different but complementary computational models, by functionally decomposing them into brain operating principles (BOPs) which each capture a limited subset of the model's functionality. We then explore links from these BOPs to neuroimaging and neurophysiological data in order to pinpoint complementary and conflicting explanations and compare predictions against selected sets of neurobiological data. The results of this comparison are used to interpret mirror system neuroimaging results in terms of neural network activity, evaluate the biological plausibility of mirror system models, and suggest new experiments that can shed light on the neural basis of mirror systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yiannis Demiris
- Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK,
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Ramos RT. The concepts of representation and information in explanatory theories of human behavior. Front Psychol 2014; 5:1034. [PMID: 25278921 PMCID: PMC4165208 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2014] [Accepted: 08/29/2014] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Focusing in experimental study of human behavior, this article discusses the concepts of information and mental representation aiming the integration of their biological, computational, and semantic aspects. Assuming that the objective of any communication process is ultimately to modify the receiver's state, the term correlational information is proposed as a measure of how changes occurring in external world correlate with changes occurring inside an individual. Mental representations are conceptualized as a special case of information processing in which correlational information is received, recorded, but also modified by a complex emergent process of associating new elements. In humans, the acquisition of information and creation of mental representations occurs in a two-step process. First, a sufficiently complex brain structure is necessary to establishing internal states capable to co-vary with external events. Second, the validity or meaning of these representations must be gradually achieved by confronting them with the environment. This contextualization can be considered as part of the process of ascribing meaning to information and representations. The hypothesis introduced here is that the sophisticated psychological constructs classically associated with the concept of mental representation are essentially of the same nature of simple interactive behaviors. The capacity of generating elaborated mental phenomena like beliefs and desires emerges gradually during evolution and, in a given individual, by learning and social interaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renato T. Ramos
- Laboratory of Psychophysiology and Neurophysiology (LIM-23), Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, University of São Paulo Medical SchoolSão Paulo, Brazil
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Cotelli M, Manenti R, Brambilla M, Balconi M. Limb apraxia and verb processing in Alzheimer's disease. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 2014; 36:843-53. [PMID: 25116164 DOI: 10.1080/13803395.2014.948389] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The present research investigates language and praxis abilities in patients with Alzheimer's disease in order to study the relationship between these two cognitive domains. METHOD The experimental evaluation of patients and control group performance was designed to permit a direct comparison of linguistic abilities (i.e., verb and noun naming and sentence comprehension) and praxic abilities (i.e., gesture execution for complex movements). Moreover, for the first time, action comprehension was explored using the Action Sequence Comprehension. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) and correlational analyses showed that a direct relationship may exist between language impairment and apraxia in patients with Alzheimer's disease. In addition, the production and comprehension of both language and action were equally impaired in patients, providing further evidence for a spectrum of concomitant linguistic and praxis deficits in Alzheimer's disease. Finally, the ability to correctly comprehend action semantics was related more directly to verb production ability than to noun production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Cotelli
- a IRCCS Istituto Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli , Brescia , Italy
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The role of mirror neurons in language acquisition and evolution. Behav Brain Sci 2014; 37:192-3. [PMID: 24775148 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x13002203] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
I argue that Cook et al.'s attack of the genetic hypothesis of mirror neurons misses its target because the authors miss the point that genetics may specify how neurons may learn, not what they learn. Paying more attention to recent work linking mirror neurons to language acquisition and evolution would strengthen Cook et al.'s arguments against a rigid genetic hypothesis.
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Keysers C, Gazzola V. Hebbian learning and predictive mirror neurons for actions, sensations and emotions. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2014; 369:20130175. [PMID: 24778372 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2013.0175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 100] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Spike-timing-dependent plasticity is considered the neurophysiological basis of Hebbian learning and has been shown to be sensitive to both contingency and contiguity between pre- and postsynaptic activity. Here, we will examine how applying this Hebbian learning rule to a system of interconnected neurons in the presence of direct or indirect re-afference (e.g. seeing/hearing one's own actions) predicts the emergence of mirror neurons with predictive properties. In this framework, we analyse how mirror neurons become a dynamic system that performs active inferences about the actions of others and allows joint actions despite sensorimotor delays. We explore how this system performs a projection of the self onto others, with egocentric biases to contribute to mind-reading. Finally, we argue that Hebbian learning predicts mirror-like neurons for sensations and emotions and review evidence for the presence of such vicarious activations outside the motor system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Keysers
- Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, KNAW, , Meibergdreef 47, 1105BA Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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