Open AccessHuman posterior parietal and dorsal premotor cortex encode the visual properties of an upcoming action
Author(s) -
Artur Pilacinski,
Melanie Wallscheid,
Axel Lindner
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0198051
Subject(s) - premotor cortex , posterior parietal cortex , neuroscience , sensory system , mirror neuron , dorsum , motor cortex , motor system , psychology , action (physics) , computer science , biology , anatomy , physics , quantum mechanics , stimulation
Behavioral studies show that motor actions are planned by adapting motor programs to produce desired visual consequences. Does this mean that the brain plans these visual consequences independent of the motor actions required to obtain them? Here we addressed this question by investigating planning-related fMRI activity in human posterior parietal (PPC) and dorsal premotor (PMd) cortex. By manipulating visual movement of a virtual end-effector controlled via button presses we could dissociate motor actions from their sensory outcome. A clear representation of the visual consequences was visible in both PPC and PMd activity during early planning stages. Our findings suggest that in both PPC and PMd action plans are initially represented on the basis of the desired sensory outcomes while later activity shifts towards representing motor programs.