Gardini Simona, Venneri Annalena, McGeown William Jonathan, Toraci Cristian, Nocetti Luca, Porro Carlo Adolfo, Caffarra Paolo
Department of Neuroscience, University of Parma, Via Gramsci, 14, 43100, Parma, Italy.
Department of Neuroscience, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
Brain Topogr. 2016 Sep;29(5):679-92. doi: 10.1007/s10548-016-0491-5. Epub 2016 Apr 12.
Motor behaviour is controlled by a large set of interacting neural structures, subserving the different components involved in hierarchical motor processes. Few studies have investigated the neural substrate of higher-order motor ideation, i.e. the mental operation of conceiving a movement. The aim of this functional magnetic resonance imaging study was to segregate the neural structures involved in motor ideation from those involved in movement choice and execution. An index finger movement paradigm was adopted, including three different conditions: performing a pre-specified movement, choosing and executing a movement and ideating a movement of choice. The tasks involved either the right or left hand, in separate runs. Neuroimaging results were obtained by comparing the different experimental conditions and computing conjunction maps of the right and left hands for each contrast. Pre-specified movement execution was supported by bilateral fronto-parietal motor regions, the cerebellum and putamen. Choosing and executing finger movement involved mainly left fronto-temporal areas and the anterior cingulate. Motor ideation activated almost exclusively left hemisphere regions, including the inferior, middle and superior frontal regions, middle temporal and middle occipital gyri. These findings show that motor ideation is controlled by a cortical network mainly involved in abstract thinking, cognitive and motor control, semantic and visual imagery processes.
运动行为由大量相互作用的神经结构控制，这些神经结构支持分层运动过程中涉及的不同组成部分。很少有研究调查高阶运动构思的神经基础，即构思运动的心理操作。这项功能磁共振成像研究的目的是将参与运动构思的神经结构与参与运动选择和执行的神经结构区分开来。采用了食指运动范式，包括三种不同的条件：执行预先指定的运动、选择并执行一个运动以及构思一个选择的运动。这些任务在不同的运行中分别涉及右手或左手。通过比较不同的实验条件并计算每个对比的右手和左手的联合图谱来获得神经成像结果。预先指定的运动执行由双侧额顶叶运动区域、小脑和壳核支持。选择并执行手指运动主要涉及左额颞叶区域和前扣带回。运动构思几乎只激活了左半球区域，包括额下回、额中回和额上回、颞中回和枕中回。这些发现表明，运动构思由一个主要参与抽象思维、认知和运动控制、语义和视觉意象过程的皮质网络控制。
