Premium
The Role of Dorsal Premotor Cortex in Resolving Abstract Motor Rules: Converging Evidence From Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Cognitive Modeling
Author(s) -
Rice Patrick,
Stocco Andrea
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
topics in cognitive science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.191
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1756-8765
pISSN - 1756-8757
DOI - 10.1111/tops.12408
Subject(s) - transcranial magnetic stimulation , premotor cortex , psychology , cognition , neuroscience , neurostimulation , stimulus (psychology) , primary motor cortex , stimulation , motor cortex , neurocognitive , dorsum , physical medicine and rehabilitation , cognitive psychology , medicine , anatomy
In this study, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation ( rTMS ) was applied over left dorsal premotor cortex ( PM d) while participants performed a novel task paradigm that required planning of responses in accordance with both instructed rules and present stimuli. rTMS is a noninvasive form of neurostimulation that can interfere with ongoing processing of a targeted cortical region, resulting in a transient “virtual lesion” that can reveal the contribution of the region to ongoing behavior. Increased response times ( RT s) were observed specifically when rTMS was applied over PM d while participants were preparing to execute a complex response to an uninstructed stimulus. To further delineate the effect of stimulation, condition‐specific RT distributions were modeled as three‐parameter Weibull distributions through hierarchical Bayesian modeling ( HBM ). Comparison of the estimated parameters to those of a paired control demonstrated that while PM d‐ rTMS slightly decreased nondecision time, it also greatly increased the variability in the RT distribution. This increased variability resulted in an overall increase in predicted mean RT and is consistent with a delay in cognitive processes. In conjunction, an ACT ‐R cognitive model of the task was developed in order to systematically test alternative hypotheses on the potential cognitive functions that may be affected by stimulation of PM d. ACT ‐R simulations suggested that participant's behavior was due to an effect of TMS on a “re‐planning” process, indicating that PM d may be specifically involved in planning of complex motor responses to specific visual stimuli. In conjunction with the HBM modeling effort, these results suggest that PM d‐ rTMS is capable of pausing or slowing the execution of a motor response‐planning process.