Scientific Institute, IRCCS "E. Medea", 0-3 Center for the at-Risk Infant, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy.
Scientific Institute, IRCCS "E. Medea", Bioengineering Laboratory, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2019 Jun 20;9(1):8975. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-45495-3.
Electroencephalographic mu rhythm desynchronization is thought to reflect Mirror Neuron System (MNS) activity and represents an important neural correlate of the coupling between action execution and perception. It is still unclear if the MNS in human ontogeny is already available at the beginning of postnatal life and how early experience impacts its development. Premature birth provides a "natural condition" for investigating the effects of early, atypical extra-uterine experience on MNS. The main aim of the present study was to investigate whether the MNS activity is associated with prematurity. We compared the mu rhythm activity in preterm (PT) and full-term (FT) 14-month old infants during an action observation/execution (AO/AE) task. Mu rhythm desynchronization was computed over frontal, central, parietal and occipital regions. Both groups showed mu rhythm suppression in all the scalp regions during action execution. Different desynchronization patterns emerged during action observation. Specifically, FT infants showed mu suppression in the right frontal, bilateral parietal and occipital regions; whereas PT infants exhibited mu suppression only in the right parietal region. Overall, these preliminary findings indicate that an atypical extra uterine experience might have an impact on the MNS activity.
脑电图 mu 节律去同步化被认为反映了镜像神经元系统 (MNS) 的活动，是动作执行与感知之间耦合的重要神经关联。目前尚不清楚人类个体发育中的 MNS 是否在出生后就已经存在，以及早期经验如何影响其发展。早产为研究早期非典型的宫外经验对 MNS 的影响提供了“自然条件”。本研究的主要目的是探讨 MNS 活动是否与早产有关。我们比较了在动作观察/执行 (AO/AE) 任务中，早产儿 (PT) 和足月儿 (FT) 14 个月大的婴儿的 mu 节律活动。mu 节律去同步化是在额、中、顶和枕区计算的。两组在动作执行期间均显示所有头皮区域的 mu 节律抑制。在动作观察期间出现了不同的去同步化模式。具体而言，FT 婴儿在右额、双侧顶和枕区显示 mu 抑制；而 PT 婴儿仅在右顶区显示 mu 抑制。总的来说，这些初步结果表明，非典型的宫外经验可能对 MNS 活动有影响。
