TY - JOUR
T1 - The role of premotor and parietal cortex during monitoring of involuntary movement
T2 - A combined TMS and tDCS study
AU - Bruno, Valentina
AU - Fossataro, Carlotta
AU - Bolognini, Nadia
AU - Zigiotto, Luca
AU - Vallar, Giuseppe
AU - Berti, Anna
AU - Garbarini, Francesca
PY - 2017/11/1
Y1 - 2017/11/1
N2 - Converging evidence on voluntary actions underlays the existence of a motor monitoring system able to compare the predicted and the actual consequences of our movements. In this context, both the premotor cortex (PMC) and the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) play a role in action monitoring and awareness. The present study explores the role of PMC and PPC in monitoring involuntary muscle contractions induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the hand motor area. To this aim, the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over PMC and PPC were examined. Thirty-six healthy subjects were asked to perform a motor monitoring task (i.e., to verbally report hand twitches induced by TMS) after 10 min of tDCS. Through three experiments, the effects of cathodal, anodal and sham tDCS over the left and the right hemispheres were compared. Our results show that cathodal tDCS over the right PMC does not affect the monitoring of involuntary movements. By contrast, tDCS over both the right and the left PPC affects motor monitoring, depending on the current polarity: while cathodal tDCS increases the feeling of phantom-like movements (which actually did not occur), anodal tDCS impairs the ability to detect involuntary hand twitches (which actually took place). These findings show that the PMC is not involved in motor monitoring of involuntary movements; rather, the PPC, where multisensory stimuli converge and are processed, seems to play a crucial role.
AB - Converging evidence on voluntary actions underlays the existence of a motor monitoring system able to compare the predicted and the actual consequences of our movements. In this context, both the premotor cortex (PMC) and the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) play a role in action monitoring and awareness. The present study explores the role of PMC and PPC in monitoring involuntary muscle contractions induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the hand motor area. To this aim, the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over PMC and PPC were examined. Thirty-six healthy subjects were asked to perform a motor monitoring task (i.e., to verbally report hand twitches induced by TMS) after 10 min of tDCS. Through three experiments, the effects of cathodal, anodal and sham tDCS over the left and the right hemispheres were compared. Our results show that cathodal tDCS over the right PMC does not affect the monitoring of involuntary movements. By contrast, tDCS over both the right and the left PPC affects motor monitoring, depending on the current polarity: while cathodal tDCS increases the feeling of phantom-like movements (which actually did not occur), anodal tDCS impairs the ability to detect involuntary hand twitches (which actually took place). These findings show that the PMC is not involved in motor monitoring of involuntary movements; rather, the PPC, where multisensory stimuli converge and are processed, seems to play a crucial role.
KW - Motor awareness
KW - Posterior parietal cortex
KW - Premotor cortex
KW - tDCS
KW - TMS
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85030309866&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85030309866&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.09.001
DO - 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.09.001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85030309866
VL - 96
SP - 83
EP - 94
JO - Cortex
JF - Cortex
SN - 0010-9452
ER -