TY - JOUR

T1 - Human premotor areas parse sequences into their spatial and temporal features

AU - Kornysheva, Katja

AU - Diedrichsen, Jörn

N1 - Copyright © 2014, Kornysheva and Diedrichsen.

PY - 2014/8/12

Y1 - 2014/8/12

N2 - Skilled performance is characterized by precise and flexible control of movement sequences in space and time. Recent theories suggest that integrated spatio-temporal trajectories are generated by intrinsic dynamics of motor and premotor networks. This contrasts with behavioural advantages that emerge when a trained spatial or temporal feature of sequences is transferred to a new spatio-temporal combination arguing for independent neural representations of these sequence features. We used a new fMRI pattern classification approach to identify brain regions with independent vs integrated representations. A distinct regional dissociation within motor areas was revealed: whereas only the contralateral primary motor cortex exhibited unique patterns for each spatio-temporal sequence combination, bilateral premotor areas represented spatial and temporal features independently of each other. These findings advocate a unique function of higher motor areas for flexible recombination and efficient encoding of complex motor behaviours.

AB - Skilled performance is characterized by precise and flexible control of movement sequences in space and time. Recent theories suggest that integrated spatio-temporal trajectories are generated by intrinsic dynamics of motor and premotor networks. This contrasts with behavioural advantages that emerge when a trained spatial or temporal feature of sequences is transferred to a new spatio-temporal combination arguing for independent neural representations of these sequence features. We used a new fMRI pattern classification approach to identify brain regions with independent vs integrated representations. A distinct regional dissociation within motor areas was revealed: whereas only the contralateral primary motor cortex exhibited unique patterns for each spatio-temporal sequence combination, bilateral premotor areas represented spatial and temporal features independently of each other. These findings advocate a unique function of higher motor areas for flexible recombination and efficient encoding of complex motor behaviours.

KW - Adult

KW - Brain Mapping

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging

KW - Male

KW - Motor Cortex

KW - Movement

KW - Prefrontal Cortex

KW - Psychomotor Performance

KW - Space Perception

KW - Time Perception

KW - Journal Article

KW - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

U2 - 10.7554/eLife.03043

DO - 10.7554/eLife.03043

M3 - Article

C2 - 25117541

VL - 3

SP - e03043

JO - Elife

JF - Elife

SN - 2050-084X

ER -