TY - JOUR
T1 - Modulation of Motor Awareness: A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study in the Healthy Brain
AU - Salatino, Adriana
AU - Sarasso, Pietro
AU - Piedimonte, Alessandro
AU - Garbarini, Francesca
AU - Ricci, Raffaella
AU - Berti, Anna
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.
PY - 2023/10/1
Y1 - 2023/10/1
N2 - Previous studies on the mechanisms underlying willed actions reported that the premotor cortex may be involved in the construction of motor awareness. However, its exact role is still under investigation. Here, we investigated the role of the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) in motor awareness by modulating its activity applying inhibitory rTMS to PMd, before a specific motor awareness task (under three conditions: without stimulation, after rTMS and after Sham stimulation). During the task, subjects had to trace straight lines to a given target, receiving visual feedback of the line trajectories on a computer screen. Crucially, in most trials, the trajectories on the screen were deviated, and to produce straight lines, subjects had to correct their movements towards the opposite direction. After each trial, participants were asked to judge whether the line seen on the computer screen corresponded to the line actually drawn. Results show that participants in the No Stimulation condition did not recognize the perturbation until 14 degrees of deviation. Importantly, active, but not Sham, rTMS significantly modulated motor awareness, decreasing the amplitude of the angle at which participants became aware of the trajectory correction. These results suggest that PMd plays a crucial role in action self-monitoring.
AB - Previous studies on the mechanisms underlying willed actions reported that the premotor cortex may be involved in the construction of motor awareness. However, its exact role is still under investigation. Here, we investigated the role of the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) in motor awareness by modulating its activity applying inhibitory rTMS to PMd, before a specific motor awareness task (under three conditions: without stimulation, after rTMS and after Sham stimulation). During the task, subjects had to trace straight lines to a given target, receiving visual feedback of the line trajectories on a computer screen. Crucially, in most trials, the trajectories on the screen were deviated, and to produce straight lines, subjects had to correct their movements towards the opposite direction. After each trial, participants were asked to judge whether the line seen on the computer screen corresponded to the line actually drawn. Results show that participants in the No Stimulation condition did not recognize the perturbation until 14 degrees of deviation. Importantly, active, but not Sham, rTMS significantly modulated motor awareness, decreasing the amplitude of the angle at which participants became aware of the trajectory correction. These results suggest that PMd plays a crucial role in action self-monitoring.
KW - awareness
KW - low frequency
KW - motor awareness
KW - premotor cortex
KW - self-monitoring
KW - TMS
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85175181061&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/brainsci13101422
DO - 10.3390/brainsci13101422
M3 - Article
SN - 2076-3425
VL - 13
JO - Brain Sciences
JF - Brain Sciences
IS - 10
M1 - 1422
ER -