Decoding sequential finger movements from preparatory activity in higher-order motor regions: a functional magnetic resonance imaging multi-voxel pattern analysis.
Performing a complex sequential finger movement requires the temporally well-ordered organization of individual finger movements. Previous behavioural studies have suggested that the brain prepares a whole sequence of movements as a single set, rather than the movements of individual fingers. However, direct neuroimaging support for this hypothesis is lacking and, assuming it to be true, it remains unclear which brain regions represent the information of a prepared sequence. Here, we measured brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging while 14 right-handed healthy participants performed two types of well-learned sequential finger movements with their right hands. Using multi-voxel pattern analysis, we examined whether the types of the forthcoming sequence could be predicted from the preparatory activities of nine regions of interest, which included the motor, somatosensory and posterior parietal regions in each hemisphere, bilateral visual cortices, cerebellum and basal ganglia. We found that, during preparation, the activity of the contralateral motor regions could predict which of the two sequences would be executed. Further detailed analysis revealed that the contralateral dorsal premotor cortex and supplementary motor area were the key areas that contributed to the prediction consistently across participants. These contrasted with results from execution-related brain activity where a performed sequence was successfully predicted from the activities in the broad cortical sensory-motor network, including the bilateral motor, parietal and ipsilateral somatosensory cortices. Our study supports the hypothesis that temporary well-organized sequences of movements are represented as a set in the brain, and that preparatory activity in higher-order motor regions represents information about upcoming motor actions.
Center for Information and Neural Networks, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, CiNet Building, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.|Graduate School of Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, 1603-1 Kamitomioka, Nagaoka, Niigata, 940-2188, Japan.
Isao
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1705-6268
I
Nambu
Center for Information and Neural Networks, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, CiNet Building, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.|Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK.
Nobuhiro
N
Hagura
Center for Information and Neural Networks, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, CiNet Building, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.|The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan.
Satoshi
S
Hirose
Graduate School of Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, 1603-1 Kamitomioka, Nagaoka, Niigata, 940-2188, Japan.
Yasuhiro
Y
Wada
ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, Keihanna Science City, Kyoto, Japan.
Mitsuo
M
Kawato
Center for Information and Neural Networks, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, CiNet Building, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.|Graduate School of Medicine and Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan.
Eiichi
E
Naito
D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
functional magnetic resonance imaging decoding; human brain; motor sequence; movement preparation