Differential activation of the lateral premotor cortex during action observation

Pilgramm, Sebastian; Lorey, Britta; Stark, Rudolf; Munzert, Joern; Vaitl, Dieter; Zentgraf, Karen (2010). Differential activation of the lateral premotor cortex during action observation. BMC neuroscience, 11(89), pp. 1-7. London: BioMed Central 10.1186/1471-2202-11-89

Preview

Text 1471-2202-11-89.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY). Download (384kB) | Preview

Background

Action observation leads to neural activation of the human premotor cortex. This study examined how the level of motor expertise (expert vs. novice) in ballroom dancing and the visual viewpoint (internal vs. external viewpoint) influence this activation within different parts of this area of the brain.
Results

Sixteen dance experts and 16 novices observed ballroom dance videos from internal or external viewpoints while lying in a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner. A conjunction analysis of all observation conditions showed that action observation activated distinct networks of premotor, parietal, and cerebellar structures. Experts revealed increased activation in the ventral premotor cortex compared to novices. An internal viewpoint led to higher activation of the dorsal premotor cortex.
Conclusions

The present results suggest that the ventral and dorsal premotor cortex adopt differential roles during action observation depending on the level of motor expertise and the viewpoint.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

231 since deposited on 04 Oct 2013
13 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item