title: Primary motor cortex and cerebellum are coupled with the kinematics of observed hand movements.
abstract: To find out in which detail the kinematics of observed movements is represented in the viewer's brain, we searched for brain areas displaying coherent magnetoencephalographic (MEG) activity with observed repetitive hand movements. Whole-scalp MEG signals were recorded from 10 right-handed young adults who observed repetitive 3-Hz right-hand flexion-extension movements performed by the experimenter. The coherence between the subject's MEG signals and the experimenter's index-finger acceleration was computed to index the level of actor-observer coupling. The underlying cortical activity was identified with Dynamic Imaging of Coherent Sources. In all subjects, coherence spectra showed statistically significant peaks at movement frequency (F0) and its first harmonic (F1), strongest at visual areas. At F0, additional significant local coherence maxima, clearly distinct from the coherent visual areas, occurred in the primary motor (M1) cortices of both hemispheres and in the cerebellum (posterior vermis and hemispheres). Our results highlight the time-sensitive involvement of the M1 cortices and cerebellum in the kinematic representation of observed repetitive, non-goal directed motor actions.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Cartographie fonctionnelle du Cerveau, ULB-Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 808 Lennik Street, 1070 Brussels, Belgium; Brain Research Unit, O.V. Lounasmaa Laboratory, School of Science, Aalto University, FI-00076 AALTO, Espoo, Finland.
authors.forename: Mathieu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bourguignon
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Cartographie fonctionnelle du Cerveau, ULB-Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 808 Lennik Street, 1070 Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: xdetiege@ulb.ac.be.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: De Tiège
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Cartographie fonctionnelle du Cerveau, ULB-Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 808 Lennik Street, 1070 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Marc Op
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: de Beeck
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Cartographie fonctionnelle du Cerveau, ULB-Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 808 Lennik Street, 1070 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Van Bogaert
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Cartographie fonctionnelle du Cerveau, ULB-Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 808 Lennik Street, 1070 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goldman
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Cartographie fonctionnelle du Cerveau, ULB-Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 808 Lennik Street, 1070 Brussels, Belgium; Brain Research Unit, O.V. Lounasmaa Laboratory, School of Science, Aalto University, FI-00076 AALTO, Espoo, Finland.
authors.forename: Veikko
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Jousmäki
authors.affiliation: Brain Research Unit, O.V. Lounasmaa Laboratory, School of Science, Aalto University, FI-00076 AALTO, Espoo, Finland.
authors.forename: Riitta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hari
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena / Q000502:physiology; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D008297:Male; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D009068:Movement; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Action-observation network; Cerebellum; Corticokinematic coherence; Magnetoencephalography; Primary motor cortex