Neural correlates of attentional focusing during finger movements: A fMRI study.
One finding in recent motor control and learning research is that an external focus (i.e., attending to environmental aspects) improves performance, whereas an internal focus (i.e., controlling bodily movements) impedes it. Despite being replicated in behavioral studies, the neurophysiological basis of this phenomenon remains largely unknown. The present authors separate global attention to actions into an external and an internal focus. Using a between-participants design, participants were either trained to attend to moving their fingers (internal focus) or to the keys to be hit (external focus) during learning a finger sequence. Subsequently, they applied functional magnetic resonance imaging under focus (internal/external), dual task, and move-only conditions. Results revealed higher activation in primary somatosensory and motor cortex for an external compared to an internal focus. The authors conclude that external participants focused on the task-related environment (i.e., the keys) to enhance tactile input to somatosensory areas that closely connect to motor areas.
Zentgraf
Karen
K
University of Berne, Institute of Sport Science, Switzerland. karen.zentgraf@ispw.unibe.ch
Lorey
Britta
B
Bischoff
Matthias
M
Zimmermann
Kristin
K
Stark
Rudolf
R
Munzert
Jörn
J
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*