Cerebral Cortex, Vol. 13, No. 9, 962-967,
September 2003
© 2003 Oxford University Press
The Role of Parietal Cortex in Awareness of Self-generated Movements: a Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study
Paus1McMaster University Medical School, Hamilton, Canada and , 1 Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Awareness of self-generated movements arises from comparing motor plans, and the accompanying (hypothetical) efference copy, with the visual and proprioceptive consequences of movement. Here we used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to investigate the role of a posterior region in the superior parietal lobule (SPL) in this process. Nine healthy volunteers performed a finger extension actively and passively while wearing a CyberGlove; the glove recorded these (actual) finger movements and used this information in real time to move a virtual hand displayed on a computer screen. To assess the participant’s awareness of movement onset, we introduced a delay between the onset of the actual and virtual movement (60–270 ms, 30 ms increments); the task was to judge whether the virtual hand movements were delayed relative to the actual hand movements. Low-frequency rTMS (15 min, 0.6 Hz) was applied either over the left SPL or the left temporal cortex (control site) to decrease excitability of these regions and, in turn, test their role in the awareness of self-generated movement. Following the SPL stimulation, participants’ assessments of asynchrony were impaired for active but not passive movements. No significant changes were observed after rTMS applied over the control site. We suggest that these findings are consistent with the role of the SPL in evaluating the temporal congruency of peripheral (visual) and central (efference copy) signals associated with self-generated movements. As such, this region may contribute to the sense of ‘agency’ and its disturbances in disorders such as apraxia and schizophrenia.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  S. Kaplan Grasping at Ontological Straws: Overcoming Reductionism in the Advaita Vedanta--Neuroscience Dialogue J Am Acad Relig, June 12, 2009; (2009) lfp019v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 V. S. Chib, M. A. Krutky, K. M. Lynch, and F. A. Mussa-Ivaldi The Separate Neural Control of Hand Movements and Contact Forces J. Neurosci., March 25, 2009; 29(12): 3939 - 3947. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
Z. Agnew and R. J. S. Wise Separate Areas for Mirror Responses and Agency within the Parietal Operculum J. Neurosci., November 19, 2008; 28(47): 12268 - 12273. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. S. Christensen, J. Lundbye-Jensen, N. Petersen, S. S. Geertsen, O. B. Paulson, and J. B. Nielsen Watching Your Foot Move--An fMRI Study of Visuomotor Interactions during Foot Movement Cereb Cortex, August 1, 2007; 17(8): 1906 - 1917. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 G. Caetano, V. Jousmaki, and R. Hari From the Cover: Actor's and observer's primary motor cortices stabilize similarly after seen or heard motor actions PNAS, May 22, 2007; 104(21): 9058 - 9062. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. Bohlhalter, A. Goldfine, S. Matteson, G. Garraux, T. Hanakawa, K. Kansaku, R. Wurzman, and M. Hallett Neural correlates of tic generation in Tourette syndrome: an event-related functional MRI study Brain, August 1, 2006; 129(8): 2029 - 2037. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
H.-O. Karnath and M.-T. Perenin Cortical Control of Visually Guided Reaching: Evidence from Patients with Optic Ataxia Cereb Cortex, October 1, 2005; 15(10): 1561 - 1569. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 T. Paus Inferring causality in brain images: a perturbation approach Phil Trans R Soc B, May 29, 2005; 360(1457): 1109 - 1114. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
V. Della-Maggiore, N. Malfait, D. J. Ostry, and T. Paus Stimulation of the Posterior Parietal Cortex Interferes with Arm Trajectory Adjustments during the Learning of New Dynamics J. Neurosci., November 3, 2004; 24(44): 9971 - 9976. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 P. H. Ellaway, A. Prochazka, M. Chan, and M. J. Gauthier The sense of movement elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation in humans is due to sensory feedback J. Physiol., April 15, 2004; 556(2): 651 - 660. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|