Abstract

The effects of different phases of an observed movement on the modulation of cortical motor output were studied by means of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). A video-clip of a reaching-grasping action was shown and single TMS pulses were delivered during its passive observation. Times of cortical stimulation were related to the phases of the shown movement, locking them to the appearance of specific kinematic landmarks. The amplitude of the motor evoked potentials (MEPs) induced by TMS in the first dorsal interosseus (FDI) muscle was modulated by the amount of the observed finger aperture. The presence of such an effect is consistent with the notion of a mirror neuron system in premotor areas that couples action execution and action observation also in terms of temporal coding.

Keywords

Transcranial magnetic stimulationNeuroscienceMotor cortexPremotor cortexStimulationMotor areaKinematicsMirror neuronDorsumMotor controlMovement (music)Modulation (music)PsychologyPhysicsAnatomyMedicineAcoustics

MeSH Terms

Acoustic StimulationAdultArmElectric StimulationEvoked PotentialsMotorHand StrengthHumansMagneticsMotor CortexMovementNeuronsNeuropsychological TestsPhotic StimulationPsychomotor Performance

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Publication Info

Year
2001
Type
article
Volume
12
Issue
7
Pages
1489-1492
Citations
450
Access
Closed

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Citation Metrics

450
OpenAlex
24
Influential
330
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Cite This

Massimo Gangitano, Felix M. Mottaghy, Álvaro Pascual‐Leone (2001). Phase-specific modulation of cortical motor output during movement observation. Neuroreport , 12 (7) , 1489-1492. https://doi.org/10.1097/00001756-200105250-00038

Identifiers

DOI
10.1097/00001756-200105250-00038
PMID
11388435

Data Quality

Data completeness: 86%