title: Neural simulation of actions: effector- versus action-specific motor maps within the human premotor and posterior parietal area?
abstract: This study addresses the controversy over how motor maps are organized during action simulation by examining whether action simulation states, that is, motor imagery and action observation, run on either effector-specific and/or action-specific motor maps. Subjects had to observe or imagine three types of movements effected by the right hand or the right foot with different action goals. The functional magnetic resonance imaging results showed an action-specific organization within premotor and posterior parietal areas of both hemispheres during action simulation, especially during action observation. There were also less pronounced effector-specific activation sites during both simulation processes. It is concluded that the premotor and parietal areas contain multiple motor maps rather than a single, continuous map of the body. The forms of simulation (observation, imagery), the task contexts (movements related to an object, with usual/unusual effector), and the underlying reason for performing the simulation (rate your subjective success afterwards) lead to the specific use of different representational motor maps within both regions. In our experimental setting, action-specific maps are dominant especially, during action observation, whereas effector-specific maps are recruited to only a lesser degree.
authors: Institute for Sports Science, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany; Bender Institute of Neuroimaging, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany.
authors: Britta
authors: B
authors: Lorey
authors: Tim
authors: T
authors: Naumann
authors: Sebastian
authors: S
authors: Pilgramm
authors: Carmen
authors: C
authors: Petermann
authors: Matthias
authors: M
authors: Bischoff
authors: Karen
authors: K
authors: Zentgraf
authors: Rudolf
authors: R
authors: Stark
authors: Dieter
authors: D
authors: Vaitl
authors: Jörn
authors: J
authors: Munzert
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D005528:Foot / Q000502:physiology; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006040:Goals; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: action mapping; action observation; fMRI; motor imagery; motor simulation; somatotopic mapping