New work from the NCM lab shows that contextual and kinematic cues jointly modulate motor resonance in primary motor cortex
This research, carried out by Andreea Loredana Cretu reveals that motor resonance measured in primary motor cortex (M1) using transcranial magnetic stimulation during action observation reflects a combination of bottom-up observed movement kinematics and top-down contextual knowledge.
by
Charles Lambelet
Importantly, our results match the predictions of a simple Bayesian model showing that:
- strongest grip specific motor resonance is observed when kinematic information is available
- contextual information is sufficient to evoke grip specific motor resonance, however, this effect is slightly weaker than when kinematic information is available
- no grip specific facilitation when both observed data and prior information are uncertain
The paper, published in Journal of Neurophysiology, can be found external page here.