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Left hemisphere motor facilitation in response to manual action sounds
Author(s) -
AzizZadeh Lisa,
Iacoboni Marco,
Zaidel Eran,
Wilson Stephen,
Mazziotta John
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
european journal of neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.346
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1460-9568
pISSN - 0953-816X
DOI - 10.1111/j.0953-816x.2004.03348.x
Subject(s) - transcranial magnetic stimulation , facilitation , psychology , lateralization of brain function , neuroscience , motor control , motor area , motor cortex , right hemisphere , stimulation , communication , cognitive psychology
Abstract Previous studies indicate that the motor areas of both hemispheres are active when observing actions. Here we explored how the motor areas of each hemisphere respond to the sounds associated with actions. We used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to measure motor corticospinal excitability of hand muscles while listening to sounds. Sounds associated with bimanual actions produced greater motor corticospinal excitability than sounds associated with leg movements or control sounds. This facilitation was exclusively lateralized to the left hemisphere, the dominant hemisphere for language. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that action coding may be a precursor of language.