Motor planning in the human posterior parietal and dorsal premotor cortices includes visuomotor prediction

Abstract

AbstractThe dorsal premotor and posterior parietal cortices have been linked to motor planning by electrophysiological recordings and brain imaging. Interestingly, these areas also show increased responses when visual feedback does not match the executed movements, which may indicate an adaptation of the brain’s body representation to a nonstandard visuomotor mapping. Here, we tested whether brain regions that plan a movement also encode predictions about the visuomotor mapping expected during execution. Thus, we combined a delayed movement task with a virtual reality based manipulation of visuomotor congruence during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). After a delay period, participants executed one of two possible left hand movements; visual movement feedback was provided via a virtual hand model controlled by a data glove. During the delay, a cue specified the to-be-executed movement (or left it ambiguous); and the upcoming mapping of the virtual to real hand movements (congruent or incongruent). Premotor and posterior parietal brain areas showed increased activity, during the delay, when movements were planned (cued > uncued) and when an incongruent > congruent visuomotor mapping was cued. Moreover, there was a significant interaction between both effects in the left anterior intraparietal sulcus (aIPS), the left superior parietal lobe (SPL), and the bilateral dorsal premotor cortex (PMd); each showing strongest activation when specific movements were planned under an expected visuomotor incongruence. These results suggest that motor planning in the dorsal premotor and posterior parietal cortex entails a prediction of the resulting visual movement consequences, which can anticipate nonstandard visuomotor mappings.