title: Training the motor cortex by observing the actions of others during immobilization.
abstract: Limb immobilization and nonuse are well-known causes of corticomotor depression. While physical training can drive the recovery from nonuse-dependent corticomotor effects, it remains unclear if it is possible to gain access to motor cortex in alternative ways, such as through motor imagery (MI) or action observation (AO). Transcranial magnetic stimulation was used to study the excitability of the hand left motor cortex in normal subjects immediately before and after 10 h of right arm immobilization. During immobilization, subjects were requested either to imagine to act with their constrained limb or to observe hand actions performed by other individuals. A third group of control subjects watched a nature documentary presented on a computer screen. Hand corticomotor maps and recruitment curves reliably showed that AO, but not MI, prevented the corticomotor depression induced by immobilization. Our results demonstrate the existence of a visuomotor mechanism in humans that links AO and execution which is able to effect cortical plasticity in a beneficial way. This facilitation was not related to the action simulation, because it was not induced by explicit MI.
authors.affiliation: Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova 16163, Italy.
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bassolino
authors.affiliation: Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova 16163, Italy.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Campanella
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Medicine, Section of Human Physiology and Centro Polifunzionale di Scienze Motorie, University of Genova, Genova 16132, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bove
authors.affiliation: Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova 16163, Italy, IUF, INSERM U1093 Cognition, Action et Plasticité Sensorimotrice, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon 21078, France and.
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pozzo
authors.affiliation: Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova 16163, Italy, Section of Human Physiology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara 44121, Italy.
authors.forename: Luciano
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fadiga
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001931:Brain Mapping; D019054:Evoked Potentials, Motor / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019018:Imagery, Psychotherapy; D007103:Immobilization / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D019370:Observation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: action observation; direct-matching hypothesis; immobilization; internal simulation; motor imagery
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