On the equivalence of executed and imagined movements: Evidence from lateralized motor and nonmotor potentials

The neural simulation theory assumes that motor imagery and motor execution draw on a shared set of mechanisms underlying motor cognition. Evidence is accumulating that motor imagery and motor execution have many common features. The extent of the similarity and whether it spreads into the preparation phase is however unclear. This study used electroencephalographic recordings to compare the effects of providing advance information about upcoming movements on preparatory processing in a motor imagery and execution paradigm. Event‐related potential data were recorded in a priming task where participants were cued to perform simple or complex finger movements. We hypothesized that a high degree of functional similarity of motor imagery and motor execution should be reflected in similar alterations of lateralized preparatory activity. Lateralized preparatory activity was indeed very similar, showing both motor‐related (lateralized readiness potential, LRP) and cognitive components (anterior directing‐attention negativity or ADAN, late directing‐attention positivity or LDAP). Dipole analysis revealed that LRP, ADAN, and LDAP sources were very comparable for motor imagination and execution. Results generally support the idea of common underlying functional networks subserving both the preparation for execution and imagery of movements. They also provide a broader context for this notion by revealing similarities in cognitive components associated with the movement tasks. Hum Brain Mapp, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Manual response preparation disrupts spatial attention: An electrophysiological investigation of links between action and attention

Previous behavioural and neuroscience studies have shown that the systems involved in the control of attention and action are functionally and anatomically linked. We used behavioural and event-related brain potential measures to investigate whether such links are mandatory or merely optional. Cues presented at the start of each trial instructed participants to shift attention to the left or right side and to simultaneously prepare to a finger movement with their left or right hand. In different trials, cues were followed by a central Go signal, requiring execution of the prepared manual response (motor task), or by a peripheral visual stimulus, which required a target-non-target discrimination only when presented on the cued side (attention task). Lateralised ERP components indicative of covert attention shifts were found when attention and action were directed to the same side (same side condition), but not when attention and action were directed to opposite sides (opposite sides condition). Likewise, effects of spatial attention on the processing of peripheral visual stimuli were present only when attention and action were directed to the same side, but not in the opposite sides condition. These results demonstrate that preparing a manual response on one side severely disrupts the attentional selection of visual stimuli on the other side, and suggest that it is not possible to simultaneously direct attention and action to different locations in space. They support the hypothesis that the control of spatial attention and action are implemented by shared brain circuits, and are therefore linked in a mandatory fashion.     

Covert manual response preparation triggers attentional shifts: ERP evidence for the premotor theory of attention

The premotor theory of attention claims that the preparation of goal-directed action and shifts of attention are closely linked, because they are controlled by shared sensorymotor mechanisms. Until now, support for this theory has come primarily from studies demonstrating links between saccade programming and attention shifts. The present event-related brain potential (ERP) study demonstrated that attentional orienting processes are also elicited during the covert preparation of unimanual responses. ERPs were recorded in the interval between a visual response-hand selection cue and a subsequent visual Go/Nogo signal when participants prepared to lift their left or right index finger. Lateralised ERP components elicited during response preparation were very similar to components previously observed during instructed endogenous attention shifts, indicating that analogous attentional orienting processes are activated in both cases. Somatosensory ERP components (P90, N140) were enhanced when task-irrelevant tactile probes were delivered during response preparation to the hand involved in an anticipated response, even when probes were presented well in advance of response execution. These results suggest that attentional shifts are triggered during unimanual response preparation, as predicted by the premotor theory. This link between manual response programming and attention is consistent with the hypothesis that common mechanisms are involved in the control of attention and action.     

Manual response preparation and saccade programming are linked to attention shifts: ERP evidence for covert attentional orienting and spatially specific modulations of visual processing

The premotor theory of attention claims that attentional shifts are triggered during response programming, regardless of which response modality is involved. To investigate this claim, event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants covertly prepared a left or right response, as indicated by a precue presented at the beginning of each trial. Cues signalled a left or right eye movement in the saccade task, and a left or right manual response in the manual task. The cued response had to be executed or withheld following the presentation of a Go/Nogo stimulus. Although there were systematic differences between ERPs triggered during covert manual and saccade preparation, lateralised ERP components sensitive to the direction of a cued response were very similar for both tasks, and also similar to the components previously found during cued shifts of endogenous spatial attention. This is consistent with the claim that the control of attention and of covert response preparation are closely linked. N1 components triggered by task-irrelevant visual probes presented during the covert response preparation interval were enhanced when these probes were presented close to cued response hand in the manual task, and at the saccade target location in the saccade task. This demonstrates that both manual and saccade preparation result in spatially specific modulations of visual processing, in line with the predictions of the premotor theory.     

Electrophysiological basis for the ability of olanzapine to improve verbal memory and functional outcome in patients with schizophrenia: a LORETA analysis of P300

Abnormality of P300 waveforms of event-related potentials (ERPs) has been suggested to represent an aspect of the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Previous work points to the contribution of altered neural function in discrete brain regions in the left hemisphere to psychotic symptoms and cognitive deficits of schizophrenia. In this study, we sought to determine: 1) if patients with schizophrenia elicit a decreased P300 current source density in brain areas, such as the superior temporal gyrus (STG); 2) if decreased P300 generator density in the left STG is recovered by treatment with the most widely-used antipsychotic drug olanzapine; and 3) if the recovery of P300 source density is associated with improvements of cognitive and functional status. P300 in response to an auditory oddball task, as well as verbal learning memory, psychopathology, and quality of life were evaluated in 16 right-handed patients with schizophrenia before and after treatment with olanzapine for 6 months. ERP data were also obtained from 16 right-handed age and gender-matched normal volunteers. Low resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) analysis was used to obtain current density images of P300. Patients with schizophrenia showed significantly smaller LORETA values in several brain regions in the left side, particularly STG, middle frontal gyrus, and precentral gyrus, compared with control subjects. Six-month treatment with olanzapine significantly increased P300 source density only in the left STG. Positive symptoms, negative symptoms, verbal learning memory, and quality of life were also improved during treatment. Significant correlations were found between the increase in LORETA values of left STG vs. improvements of negative symptoms, as measured by Scale for the Assessment of the Negative Symptoms, and verbal learning memory, as measured by the Japanese Verbal Learning Test. Improvement of quality of life, as evaluated by the Quality of Life Scale, were significantly associated with an increase in LORETA values of middle frontal gyrus, and tended to correlate with that of precentral gyrus. The results of this study suggest that changes in cortical activity, as measured by ERPs, are responsible for the ability of some antipsychotic drugs to improve cognition and functional outcome in patients with schizophrenia.