Rapid visuomotor preparation in the human brain: a functional MRI study.

Full Abstract

An important feature of human motor behaviour is anticipation and preparation. We report a functional magnetic resonance imaging study of the neuronal activation patterns in the human brain that are associated with the rapid visuomotor preparation of discrete finger responses. Our imaging results reveal a large-scale distributed network of neural areas involved in fast visuomotor preparation, including specific areas in the frontal cortex (middle frontal gyrus, premotor and supplementary motor cortex), the parietal cortex (intra-parietal sulcus, inferior and superior parietal lobe) and the basal ganglia. Our reaction time results demonstrate that it is easier to prepare two fingers on one hand than on two hands. This hand-advantage phenomenon was associated with relatively enhanced levels of activity in the basal ganglia and relatively reduced levels of activity in the parietal cortex. These findings provide direct evidence for differential activity in a distributed brain system associated with specific neuro-computational operations subserving fast visuomotor preparation.

Author information

Author/s: Adam, Jos J (JJ); Backes, W (W); Rijcken, J (J); Hofman, P (P); Kuipers, H (H); Jolles, J (J);

Affiliation: Department of Movement Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands. jos.adam(-atsign-)bw.unimaas.nl

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article

Journal: Brain research. Cognitive brain research (Brain Res Cogn Brain Res), published in Netherlands. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Mar; vol 16 (issue 1) : pp 1-10

Dates: Created 2003/02/18; Completed 2003/04/17; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12589883, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

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