Signal-, set- and movement-related activity in the human brain: an event-related fMRI study. (1/9774)

Electrophysiological studies on monkeys have been able to distinguish sensory and motor signals close in time by pseudorandomly delaying the cue that instructs the movement from the stimulus that triggers the movement. We have used a similar experimental design in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), scanning subjects while they performed a visuomotor conditional task with instructed delays. One of four shapes was presented briefly. Two shapes instructed the subjects to flex the index finger; the other two shapes coded the flexion of the middle finger. The subjects were told to perform the movement after a tone. We have exploited a novel use of event-related fMRI. By systematically varying the interval between the visual and acoustic stimuli, it has been possible to estimate the significance of the evoked haemodynamic response (EHR) to each of the stimuli, despite their temporal proximity in relation to the time constant of the EHR. Furthermore, by varying the phase between events and image acquisition, we have been able to achieve high temporal resolution while scanning the whole brain. We dissociated sensory and motor components of the sensorimotor transformations elicited by the task, and assessed sustained activity during the instructed delays. In calcarine and occipitotemporal cortex, the responses were exclusively associated with the visual instruction cues. In temporal auditory cortex and in primary motor cortex, they were exclusively associated with the auditory trigger stimulus. In ventral prefrontal cortex there were movement-related responses preceded by preparatory activity and by signal-related activity. Finally, responses associated with the instruction cue and with sustained activity during the delay period were observed in the dorsal premotor cortex and in the dorsal posterior parietal cortex. Where the association between a visual cue and the appropriate movement is arbitrary, the underlying visuomotor transformations are not achieved exclusively through frontoparietal interactions. Rather, these processes seem to rely on the ventral visual stream, the ventral prefrontal cortex and the anterior part of the dorsal premotor cortex.  (+info)

Cerebellar Purkinje cell simple spike discharge encodes movement velocity in primates during visuomotor arm tracking. (2/9774)

Pathophysiological, lesion, and electrophysiological studies suggest that the cerebellar cortex is important for controlling the direction and speed of movement. The relationship of cerebellar Purkinje cell discharge to the control of arm movement parameters, however, remains unclear. The goal of this study was to examine how movement direction and speed and their interaction-velocity-modulate Purkinje cell simple spike discharge in an arm movement task in which direction and speed were independently controlled. The simple spike discharge of 154 Purkinje cells was recorded in two monkeys during the performance of two visuomotor tasks that required the animals to track targets that moved in one of eight directions and at one of four speeds. Single-parameter regression analyses revealed that a large proportion of cells had discharge modulation related to movement direction and speed. Most cells with significant directional tuning, however, were modulated at one speed, and most cells with speed-related discharge were modulated along one direction; this suggested that the patterns of simple spike discharge were not adequately described by single-parameter models. Therefore, a regression surface was fitted to the data, which showed that the discharge could be tuned to specific direction-speed combinations (preferred velocities). The overall variability in simple spike discharge was well described by the surface model, and the velocities corresponding to maximal and minimal discharge rates were distributed uniformly throughout the workspace. Simple spike discharge therefore appears to integrate information about both the direction and speed of arm movements, thereby encoding movement velocity.  (+info)

Complete compensation in skilled reaching success with associated impairments in limb synergies, after dorsal column lesion in the rat. (3/9774)

Each of the dorsal columns of the rat spinal cord conveys primary sensory information, by way of the medullary dorsal column nucleus, to the ventrobasal thalamus on the contralateral side; thus the dorsal columns are an important source of neural input to the sensorimotor cortex. Damage to the dorsal columns causes impairments in synergistic proximal or whole-body movements in cats and distal limb impairments in primates, particularly in multiarticulated finger movements and tactile foviation while handling objects, but the behavioral effects of afferent fiber lesions in the dorsal columns of rodents have not been described. Female Long-Evans rats were trained to reach with a forelimb for food pellets and subsequently received lesions of the dorsomedial spinal cord at the C2 level, ipsilateral to their preferred limb. Reaching success completely recovered within a few days of dorsal column lesion. Nevertheless, a detailed analysis of high-speed video recordings revealed that rotatory limb movements (aiming, pronation, supination, etc.) were irreversibly impaired. Compensation was achieved with whole-body and alternate limb movements. These results indicate the following: (1) in the absence of the dorsal columns, other sensorimotor pathways support endpoint success in reaching; (2) sensory input conveyed by the dorsal columns is important for both proximal and distal limb movements used for skilled reaching; and (3) detailed behavioral analyses in addition to endpoint measures are necessary to completely describe the effects of dorsal column lesions.  (+info)

Behavioral, toxic, and neurochemical effects of sydnocarb, a novel psychomotor stimulant: comparisons with methamphetamine. (4/9774)

Sydnocarb (3-(beta-phenylisopropyl)-N-phenylcarbamoylsydnonimine) is a psychostimulant in clinical practice in Russia as a primary and adjunct therapy for a host of psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and depression. It has been described as a stimulant with an addiction liability and toxicity less than that of amphetamines. The present study undertook to evaluate the psychomotor stimulant effects of sydnocarb in comparison to those of methamphetamine. Sydnocarb increased locomotor activity of mice with reduced potency (approximately 10-fold) and efficacy compared with methamphetamine. Sydnocarb blocked the locomotor depressant effects of haloperidol at doses that were inactive when given alone. The locomotor stimulant effects of both methamphetamine and sydnocarb were dose-dependently blocked by the dopamine D1 and D2 antagonists SCH 39166 and spiperone, respectively; blockade generally occurred at doses of the antagonists that did not depress locomotor activity when given alone. In mice trained to discriminate methamphetamine from saline, sydnocarb fully substituted for methamphetamine with a 9-fold lower potency. When substituted for methamphetamine under self-administration experiments in rats, 10-fold higher concentrations of sydnocarb maintained responding by its i.v. presentation. Sydnocarb engendered stereotypy in high doses with approximately a 2-fold lower potency than methamphetamine. However, sydnocarb was much less efficacious than methamphetamine in inducing stereotyped behavior. Both sydnocarb and methamphetamine increased dialysate levels of dopamine in mouse striatum; however, the potency and efficacy of sydnocarb was less than methamphetamine. The convulsive effects of cocaine were significantly enhanced by the coadministration of nontoxic doses of methamphetamine but not of sydnocarb. Taken together, the present findings indicate that sydnocarb has psychomotor stimulant effects that are shared by methamphetamine while demonstrating a reduced behavioral toxicity.  (+info)

Evidence for an eye-centered spherical representation of the visuomotor map. (5/9774)

During visually guided movement, visual coordinates of target location must be transformed into coordinates appropriate for movement. To investigate the representation of this visuomotor coordinate transformation, we examined changes in pointing behavior induced by a local visuomotor remapping. The visual feedback of finger position was limited to one location within the workspace, at which a discrepancy was introduced between the actual and visually perceived finger position. This remapping induced a change in pointing that extended over the entire workspace and was best captured by a spherical coordinate system centered near the eyes.  (+info)

Visuomotor processing as reflected in the directional discharge of premotor and primary motor cortex neurons. (6/9774)

Premotor and primary motor cortical neuronal firing was studied in two monkeys during an instructed delay, pursuit tracking task. The task included a premovement "cue period," during which the target was presented at the periphery of the workspace and moved to the center of the workspace along one of eight directions at one of four constant speeds. The "track period" consisted of a visually guided, error-constrained arm movement during which the animal tracked the target as it moved from the central start box along a line to the opposite periphery of the workspace. Behaviorally, the animals tracked the required directions and speeds with highly constrained trajectories. The eye movements consisted of saccades to the target at the onset of the cue period, followed by smooth pursuit intermingled with saccades throughout the cue and track periods. Initially, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test for direction and period effects in the firing. Subsequently, a linear regression analysis was used to fit the average firing from the cue and track periods to a cosine model. Directional tuning as determined by a significant fit to the cosine model was a prominent feature of the discharge during both the cue and track periods. However, the directional tuning of the firing of a single cell was not always constant across the cue and track periods. Approximately one-half of the neurons had differences in their preferred directions (PDs) of >45 degrees between cue and track periods. The PD in the cue or track period was not dependent on the target speed. A second linear regression analysis based on calculation of the preferred direction in 20-ms bins (i.e., the PD trajectory) was used to examine on a finer time scale the temporal evolution of this change in directional tuning. The PD trajectories in the cue period were not straight but instead rotated over the workspace to align with the track period PD. Both clockwise and counterclockwise rotations occurred. The PD trajectories were relatively straight during most of the track period. The rotation and eventual convergence of the PD trajectories in the cue period to the preferred direction of the track period may reflect the transformation of visual information into motor commands. The widely dispersed PD trajectories in the cue period would allow targets to be detected over a wide spatial aperture. The convergence of the PD trajectories occurring at the cue-track transition may serve as a "Go" signal to move that was not explicitly supplied by the paradigm. Furthermore, the rotation and convergence of the PD trajectories may provide a mechanism for nonstandard mapping. Standard mapping refers to a sensorimotor transformation in which the stimulus is the object of the reach. Nonstandard mapping is the mapping of an arbitrary stimulus into an arbitrary movement. The shifts in the PD may allow relevant visual information from any direction to be transformed into an appropriate movement direction, providing a neural substrate for nonstandard stimulus-response mappings.  (+info)

Visual control of locomotion in Parkinson's disease. (7/9774)

The effect of placing parallel lines on the walking surface on parkinsonian gait was evaluated. To identify the kind of visual cues (static or dynamic) required for the control of locomotion, we tested two visual conditions: normal lighting and stroboscopic illumination (three flashes/s), the latter acting to suppress dynamic visual cues completely. Sixteen subjects with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (nine males, seven females; mean age 68.8 years) and the same number of age-matched controls (seven males; nine females, mean age 67.5 years) were studied. During the baseline phase, Parkinson's disease patients walked with a short-stepped, slow velocity pattern. The double limb support duration was increased and the step cadence was reduced relative to normal. Under normal lighting, visual cues from the lines on the walking surface induced a significant improvement in gait velocity and stride length in Parkinson's disease patients. With stroboscopic illumination and without lines, both groups reduced their stride length and velocity but the changes were significant only in the Parkinson's disease group, indicating greater dependence on dynamic visual information. When stroboscopic light was used with stripes on the floor, the improvement in gait due to the stripes was suppressed in parkinsonian patients. These results demonstrate that the perceived motion of stripes, induced by the patient's walking, is essential to improve the gait parameters and thus favour the hypothesis of a specific visual-motor pathway which is particularly responsive to rapidly moving targets. Previous studies have proposed a cerebellar circuit, allowing the visual stimuli to by-pass the damaged basal ganglia.  (+info)

Common 3 and 10 Hz oscillations modulate human eye and finger movements while they simultaneously track a visual target. (8/9774)

1. A 10 Hz range centrally originating oscillation has been found to modulate slow finger movements and anticipatory smooth eye movements. To determine if an interaction or linkage occurs between these two central oscillations during combined visuo-manual tracking, frequency and coherence analysis were performed on finger and eye movements while they simultaneously tracked a visual target moving in intermittently visible sinusoidal patterns. 2. Two different frequencies of common or linked oscillation were found. The first, at 2-3 Hz, was dependent on visual feedback of target and finger tracking positions. The second, at around 10 Hz, still occurred when both target and finger positions were largely obscured, indicating that this common oscillation was generated internally by the motor system independent of visual feedback. Both 3 and 10 Hz oscillation frequencies were also shared by the right and left fingers if subjects used these together to track a visual target. 3. The linking of the 10 Hz range oscillations between the eyes and finger was task specific; it never occurred when eye and finger movements were made simultaneously and independently, but only when they moved simultaneously and followed the target together. However, although specific for tracking by the eyes and fingers together, the linking behaviour did not appear to be a prerequisite for such tracking, since significant coherence in the 10 Hz range was only present in a proportion of trials where these combined movements were made. 4. The experiments show that common oscillations may modulate anatomically very distinct structures, indicating that single central oscillations may have a widespread distribution in the central nervous system. The task-specific manifestation of the common oscillation in the eye and finger suggests that such mechanisms may have a functional role in hand-eye co-ordination.  (+info)

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