Observing a movement correction during walking affects evoked responses but not unperturbed walking.

ABSTRACT: Seeing an action activates neurons in the premotor, motor, and somatosensory cortex. Since a significant fraction of these pyramidal neurons project to the spinal motor circuits, a central question is why we do not automatically perform the actions that we see. Indeed, seeing an action increases both cortical and spinal excitability of consistent motor patterns that correspond to the observed ones. Thus, it is believed that such imitative motor patterns are either suppressed or remain at a sub-threshold level. This would predict, however, that seeing someone make a corrective movement while one is actively involved in the same action should either suppress evoked responses or suppress or modulate the action itself. Here we tested this prediction, and found that seeing someone occasionally

SUBMITTER: Behrendt F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4136850 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature