Dissociable neural representations of wrist motor coordinate frames in human motor cortices.
There is a growing interest in how the brain transforms body part positioning in the extrinsic environment into an intrinsic coordinate frame during motor control. To explore the human brain areas representing intrinsic and extrinsic coordinate frames, this fMRI study examined neural representation of motor cortices while human participants performed isometric wrist flexions and extensions in different forearm postures, thereby applying the same wrist actions (representing the intrinsic coordinate frame) to different movement directions (representing the extrinsic coordinate frame). Using sparse logistic regression, critical voxels involving pattern information that specifically discriminates wrist action (flexion vs. extension) and movement direction (upward vs. downward) were identified within the primary motor and premotor cortices. Analyses of classifier weights further identified contributions of the primary motor cortex to the intrinsic coordinate frame and the ventral and dorsal premotor cortex and supplementary motor area proper to the extrinsic coordinate frame. These results are consistent with existing findings using non-human primates and demonstrate the distributed representations of independent coordinate frames in the human brain.
Precision and Intelligence Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan; Department of Functional Brain Research, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo 187-8502, Japan. Electronic address: yoshimura@cns.pi.titech.ac.jp.
Natsue
N
Yoshimura
Precision and Intelligence Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan; Department of Functional Brain Research, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo 187-8502, Japan; CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo 102-0076, Japan.
Koji
K
Jimura
Department of Functional Brain Research, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo 187-8502, Japan.
Charles Sayo
CS
DaSalla
Precision and Intelligence Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan; CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo 102-0076, Japan.
Duk
D
Shin
Precision and Intelligence Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan; CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo 102-0076, Japan.
Hiroyuki
H
Kambara
Department of Functional Brain Research, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo 187-8502, Japan; Department of Advanced Neuroimaging, Integrative Brain Imaging Center, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo 187-8551, Japan; PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo 102-0076, Japan.
Takashi
T
Hanakawa
Precision and Intelligence Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan; CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo 102-0076, Japan; Solution Science Research Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan.
Yasuharu
Y
Koike
D000328:Adult; D004525:Efferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D014953:Wrist / Q000294:innervation* / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Motor areas; Motor coordinate frames; Multivariate pattern analysis; Voluntary movement