Nature 371, 600 - 602 (13 October 2002); doi:10.1038/371600a0

Mapping motor representations with positron emission tomography

J. Decety^*, D. Perani^†, M. Jeannerod^*, V. Bettinardi^†, B. Tadary^*, R. Woods^‡, J. C. Mazziotta^‡ & F. Fazio^†

^*Vision et Motricite, INSERM U94, 16 avenue du Doyen Lépine, F-69500 Bron, France
^†INB-CNR, University of Milan, Scientific Institute H San Raffaele, Via Olgettina 60, 20132 Milano, Italy
^‡Brain Mapping Division, Department of Neurology, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90024-1763, USA

BRAIN activity was mapped in normal subjects during passive obser-vation of the movements of an 'alien' hand and while imagining grasping objects with their own hand. None of the tasks required actual movement. Shifting from one mental task to the other greatly changed the pattern of brain activation. During observation of hand movements, activation was mainly found in visual cortical areas, but also in subcortical areas involved in motor behaviour, such as the basal ganglia and the cerebellum. During motor imag-ery, cortical and subcortical areas related to motor preparation and programming were strongly activated. These data support the notion that motor learning during observation of movements and mental practice involves rehearsal of neural pathways related to cognitive stages of motor control^1–3.

References

1.	Yue, G. & Cole, K. J. J. Neurophysiol. 67, 1114−1123 (1992). | PubMed | ChemPort |
2.	Decety, J., Jeannerod, M., Germain, M. & Pastene, J. Behavl Brain Res. 42, 1−5 (1991). | ChemPort |
3.	Jeannerod, M. Behavl Brain Sci. 17, 187−245 (1994).
4.	Watson, J. D. G. et al. Cereb. Cortex 3, 79−94 (1993). | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort |
5.	Perrett, D. I. et al. J. exp. Biol. 146, 87−113 (1989). | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort |
6.	Roland, P. E., Larsen, B., Lassen, N. A. & Skinoj, E. J. Neurophysiol. 43, 137−150 (1980). | PubMed | ChemPort |
7.	Mushiake, H., Inase, M. & Tanji, J. J. Neurophysiol. 66, 705−718 (1991). | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort |
8.	Fox, P. T., Pardo, J. V., Petersen, S. E. & Raichle, M. E. Neurosci. Abstr. 1433 (1987).
9.	Frith, C. D., Friston, K., Liddle, P. F. & Frackowiak, R. S. J. Proc. R. Soc. 244, 241−246 (1991). | ChemPort |
10.	Pardo, J. V., Pardo, P. J., Janer, K. W. & Raichle, M. E. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 87, 256−259 (1990). | ChemPort |
11.	Paus, T., Petrides, M., Evans, A. C. & Meyer, E. J. Neurophysiol. 70, 453−469 (1993). | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort |
12.	Spinks, T. J., Jones, T., Gilardi, M. C. & Heather, J. D. IEEE Trans. nucl. Sci. 35, 721−725 (1988). | Article | ChemPort |
13.	Woods, R. P., Cherry, S. R. & Mazziotta, J. C. J. Comp. Assist. Tomography 16, 620−633 (1992). | ChemPort |
14.	Friston, K. J. et al. J. cereb. Blood Flow Metab. 9, 690−695 (1989). | PubMed | ChemPort |
15.	Friston, K. J. J. cereb. Blood Flow Metab. 10, 458−466 (1990). | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort |
16.	Friston, K. J., Frith, C. D., Liddle, P. F. & Frackowiak, R. S. J. J. cereb. Blood Flow Metab. 11, 690−699 (1991). | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort |
17.	Talairach, J. & Tournoux, P. Co-planar Stereotaxic Atlas of the Human Brain (Thieme, New York, 1988).