Does focusing on hand-grasping intentions modulate electroencephalogram μ and α suppressions?
Understanding the intentions of others presumably involves a human analog of the mirror neuron system. A putative marker of such mirror activity is the suppression of electroencephalographic oscillations in the 8-12 Hz range, which, when recorded over somatosensory areas, is associated with motor activity and labeled μ rhythms. We investigated whether μ-suppression can be modulated by attention to another person's intention as expressed by her hand movement toward an object and whether this suppression is distinguished from the suppression of α waves that oscillate in the same frequency range and are modulated by attention and cognitive load. Both μ and α suppressions were modulated by task difficulty, and not distinctively by intention, reflecting the recruitment of resources needed for task performance.
Perry
Anat
A
Department of Psychology, Center for Neural Computation Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. anat.perry@mail.huji.ac.il
Bentin
Shlomo
S
D000328:Adult; D000513:Alpha Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D058256:Brain Waves / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology*; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult