TY - JOUR

T1 - Dissociating arbitrary stimulus-response mapping from movement planning during preparatory period

T2 - evidence from event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging

AU - Cavina-Pratesi, Cristiana

AU - Valyear, Kenneth F

AU - Culham, Jody C

AU - Köhler, Stefan

AU - Obhi, Sukhvinder S

AU - Marzi, Carlo Alberto

AU - Goodale, Melvyn A

PY - 2006/8/1

Y1 - 2006/8/1

N2 - In the present study, we aimed to dissociate the neural correlates of two subprocesses involved in the preparatory period in the context of arbitrary, prelearned stimulus-response (S-R) associations, namely, S-R mapping and movement planning (MP). We teased apart these two subprocesses by comparing three tasks in which the complexity of both S-R mapping and MP were independently manipulated: simple reaction time (SRT) task, go/no-go reaction time (GNGRT) task, and choice reaction time (CRT) task. We found that a more complex S-R mapping, which is the common element differentiating CRT and GNGRT from SRT, was associated with higher brain activation in the left superior parietal lobe (SPL). Conversely, a greater number of planned finger movements, which is the common difference between CRT and both SRT and GNGRT, was associated with higher brain activation in a number of frontal areas, including the left supplementary motor area (SMA), left dorsal premotor cortex (dPM), and left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). The left-hemisphere dominance for S-R mapping could be related to the fact that arbitrary S-R mapping is often verbally mediated in humans. Overall, these results suggest a clear dissociation in the preparatory-set period between the more abstract role of left SPL in activating the appropriate S-R associations and the more concrete role played by the SMA, dPM, and ACC in preparing the required motor programs.

AB - In the present study, we aimed to dissociate the neural correlates of two subprocesses involved in the preparatory period in the context of arbitrary, prelearned stimulus-response (S-R) associations, namely, S-R mapping and movement planning (MP). We teased apart these two subprocesses by comparing three tasks in which the complexity of both S-R mapping and MP were independently manipulated: simple reaction time (SRT) task, go/no-go reaction time (GNGRT) task, and choice reaction time (CRT) task. We found that a more complex S-R mapping, which is the common element differentiating CRT and GNGRT from SRT, was associated with higher brain activation in the left superior parietal lobe (SPL). Conversely, a greater number of planned finger movements, which is the common difference between CRT and both SRT and GNGRT, was associated with higher brain activation in a number of frontal areas, including the left supplementary motor area (SMA), left dorsal premotor cortex (dPM), and left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). The left-hemisphere dominance for S-R mapping could be related to the fact that arbitrary S-R mapping is often verbally mediated in humans. Overall, these results suggest a clear dissociation in the preparatory-set period between the more abstract role of left SPL in activating the appropriate S-R associations and the more concrete role played by the SMA, dPM, and ACC in preparing the required motor programs.

KW - Adult

KW - Analysis of Variance

KW - Brain Mapping

KW - Choice Behavior

KW - Evoked Potentials

KW - Female

KW - Functional Laterality

KW - Humans

KW - Image Processing, Computer-Assisted

KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging

KW - Male

KW - Memory, Short-Term

KW - Motor Cortex

KW - Movement

KW - Oxygen

KW - Photic Stimulation

KW - Psychomotor Performance

KW - Reaction Time

KW - Reference Values

KW - Comparative Study

KW - Journal Article

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

U2 - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3176-05.2006

DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3176-05.2006

M3 - Article

C2 - 16525049

VL - 26

SP - 2704

EP - 2713

JO - Journal of Neuroscience

JF - Journal of Neuroscience

SN - 0270-6474

IS - 10

ER -