Abstract
BackgroundRecent studies of functional or effective connectivity in the brain have reported that motor-related brain regions were activated during motor execution and motor imagery, but the relationship between motor and cognitive areas has not yet been completely understood. The objectives of our study were to analyze the effective connectivity between motor and cognitive networks in order to define network dynamics during motor execution and motor imagery in healthy individuals. Second, we analyzed the differences in effective connectivity between correct and incorrect responses during motor execution and imagery using dynamic causal modeling (DCM) of electroencephalography (EEG) data.MethodTwenty healthy subjects performed a sequence of finger tapping trials using either motor execution or motor imagery, and the performances were recorded. Changes in effective connectivity between the primary motor cortex (M1), supplementary motor area (SMA), premotor cortex (PMC), and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) were estimated using dynamic causal modeling. Bayesian model averaging with family-level inference and fixed-effects analysis was applied to determine the most likely connectivity model for these regions.ResultsMotor execution and imagery showed inputs to distinct brain regions, the premotor cortex and the supplementary motor area, respectively. During motor execution, the coupling strength of a feedforward network from the DLPFC to the PMC was greater than that during motor imagery. During motor imagery, the coupling strengths of a feedforward network from the PMC to the SMA and of a feedback network from M1 to the PMC were higher than that during motor execution. In imagined movement, although there were connectivity differences between correct and incorrect task responses, each motor imagery task that included correct and incorrect responses showed similar network connectivity characteristics. Correct motor imagery responses showed connectivity from the PMC to the DLPFC, while the incorrect responses had characteristic connectivity from the SMA to the DLPFC.ConclusionsThese findings provide an understanding of effective connectivity between motor and cognitive areas during motor execution and imagery as well as the basis for future connectivity studies for patients with stroke.
Highlights
Motor imagery (MI) constitutes a mentally rehearsed task in which a given movement is imagined without the occurrence of actual movement [1]
We analyzed the differences in effective connectivity between correct and incorrect responses during motor execution and imagery using dynamic causal modeling (DCM) of electroencephalography (EEG) data
Correct motor imagery responses showed connectivity from the premotor cortex (PMC) to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), while the incorrect responses had characteristic connectivity from the supplementary motor area (SMA) to the DLPFC. These findings provide an understanding of effective connectivity between motor and cognitive areas during motor execution and imagery as well as the basis for future connectivity studies for patients with stroke
Summary
Motor imagery (MI) constitutes a mentally rehearsed task in which a given movement is imagined without the occurrence of actual movement [1]. Similar to ME, motor areas of the cerebral cortex involved in MI include M1, SMA, pre-SMA, and ventral and dorsal parts of the PMC, activation of M1 during MI is weaker compared to that during ME [3,4,5]. They include areas related to action planning, such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), inferior frontal cortex (IFC), and posterior parietal cortex (PPC) [6,7,8,9]. We analyzed the differences in effective connectivity between correct and incorrect responses during motor execution and imagery using dynamic causal modeling (DCM) of electroencephalography (EEG) data
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