Linking actions and their perceivable consequences in the human brain.

Full Abstract

Voluntary action is goal-directed and therefore depends on the ability to learn associations between movements and their perceivable consequences. The neural substrate of this ability was investigated with H2(15O) positron emission tomography (PET). Healthy adults first learned that self-initiated keypresses were consistently followed by certain tones (i.e., action effects). During PET imaging, participants listened to varied ratios of action-effect tones and neutral tones without performing any movement. The caudal supplementary motor area and the right hippocampus increased their activity with the frequency of action-effect tones, suggesting that both cortical areas play a role in linking the consequences of an action and the action itself. This integration process represents a highly flexible mechanism that helps to promote the learning, automatization, and control of voluntary

Author information

Author/s: Elsner, Birgit (B); Hommel, Bernhard (B); Mentschel, Claudia (C); Drzezga, Alexander (A); Prinz, Wolfgang (W); Conrad, Bastian (B); Siebner, Hartwig (H);

Affiliation: Department of Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research, D-80799, Munich, Germany. elsner(-atsign-)mpipf-muenchen.mpg.de

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Clinical Trial; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: NeuroImage (Neuroimage), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Sep; vol 17 (issue 1) : pp 364-72

Dates: Created 2002/12/16; Completed 2003/01/14; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12482089, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.