Acute immobilisation facilitates premotor preparatory activity for the non-restrained hand when facing grasp affordances

TY - JOUR

T1 - Acute immobilisation facilitates premotor preparatory activity for the non-restrained hand when facing grasp affordances

AU - Kühn, Simone

AU - Werner, Anika

AU - Lindenberger, Ulman

AU - Verrel, Julius

N1 - Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc.

PY - 2014/5/15

Y1 - 2014/5/15

N2 - Use and non-use of body parts during goal-directed action are major forces driving reorganisation of neural processing. We investigated changes in functional brain activity resulting from acute short-term immobilisation of the dominant right hand. Informed by the concept of object affordances, we predicted that the presence or absence of a limb restraint would influence the perception of graspable objects in a laterally specific way. Twenty-three participants underwent fMRI scanning during a passive object-viewing task before the intervention as well as with and without wearing an orthosis. The right dorsal premotor cortex and the left cerebellum were more strongly activated when the handle of an object was oriented towards the left hand while the right hand was immobilised compared with a situation where the hand was not immobilised. The cluster in the premotor cortex showing an interaction between condition (with restraint, without restraint) and stimulus action side (right vs. left) overlapped with the general task vs. baseline contrast prior to the intervention, confirming its functional significance for the task. These results show that acute immobilisation of the dominant right hand leads to rapid changes of the perceived affordance of objects. We conclude that changes in action requirements lead to almost instantaneous changes in functional activation patterns, which in turn may trigger structural cortical plasticity.

AB - Use and non-use of body parts during goal-directed action are major forces driving reorganisation of neural processing. We investigated changes in functional brain activity resulting from acute short-term immobilisation of the dominant right hand. Informed by the concept of object affordances, we predicted that the presence or absence of a limb restraint would influence the perception of graspable objects in a laterally specific way. Twenty-three participants underwent fMRI scanning during a passive object-viewing task before the intervention as well as with and without wearing an orthosis. The right dorsal premotor cortex and the left cerebellum were more strongly activated when the handle of an object was oriented towards the left hand while the right hand was immobilised compared with a situation where the hand was not immobilised. The cluster in the premotor cortex showing an interaction between condition (with restraint, without restraint) and stimulus action side (right vs. left) overlapped with the general task vs. baseline contrast prior to the intervention, confirming its functional significance for the task. These results show that acute immobilisation of the dominant right hand leads to rapid changes of the perceived affordance of objects. We conclude that changes in action requirements lead to almost instantaneous changes in functional activation patterns, which in turn may trigger structural cortical plasticity.

KW - Adult

KW - Anticipation, Psychological

KW - Brain Mapping

KW - Female

KW - Functional Laterality

KW - Hand

KW - Hand Strength

KW - Humans

KW - Immobilization

KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging

KW - Male

KW - Motor Cortex

KW - Neuronal Plasticity

KW - Orientation

KW - Perception

KW - Psychomotor Performance

KW - Spatial Behavior

U2 - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.02.003

DO - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.02.003

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 24531050

VL - 92

SP - 69

EP - 73

JO - NEUROIMAGE

JF - NEUROIMAGE

SN - 1053-8119

ER -