Aix Marseille University, INSERM, INS, Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes, 13005 Marseille, France;
McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada H3A 2B4.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Oct 17;114(42):E8913-E8921. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1705373114. Epub 2017 Oct 2.
In behavior, action and perception are inherently interdependent. However, the actual mechanistic contributions of the motor system to sensory processing are unknown. We present neurophysiological evidence that the motor system is involved in predictive timing, a brain function that aligns temporal fluctuations of attention with the timing of events in a task-relevant stream, thus facilitating sensory selection and optimizing behavior. In a magnetoencephalography experiment involving auditory temporal attention, participants had to disentangle two streams of sound on the unique basis of endogenous temporal cues. We show that temporal predictions are encoded by interdependent delta and beta neural oscillations originating from the left sensorimotor cortex, and directed toward auditory regions. We also found that overt rhythmic movements improved the quality of temporal predictions and sharpened the temporal selection of relevant auditory information. This latter behavioral and functional benefit was associated with increased signaling of temporal predictions in right-lateralized frontoparietal associative regions. In sum, this study points at a covert form of auditory active sensing. Our results emphasize the key role of motor brain areas in providing contextual temporal information to sensory regions, driving perceptual and behavioral selection.
在行为、动作和感知中，它们本质上是相互依存的。然而，运动系统对感觉处理的实际机械贡献尚不清楚。我们提出神经生理学证据表明，运动系统参与了预测时间，这是一种大脑功能，它使注意力的时间波动与任务相关流中的事件时间对齐，从而促进感觉选择并优化行为。在一项涉及听觉时间注意力的脑磁图实验中，参与者必须仅根据内在的时间线索从两个声音流中分离出来。我们表明，时间预测是由起源于左感觉运动皮层的相互依赖的 delta 和 beta 神经振荡编码的，并指向听觉区域。我们还发现，明显的有节奏的运动改善了时间预测的质量，并使相关听觉信息的时间选择更加敏锐。这种后者的行为和功能优势与右外侧额顶联合区时间预测信号的增加有关。总之，这项研究指出了一种隐蔽的听觉主动感知形式。我们的研究结果强调了运动大脑区域在为感觉区域提供上下文时间信息、驱动感知和行为选择方面的关键作用。
