Abstract
Pyramidal tract neurons (PTNs) within macaque rostral ventral premotor cortex (F5) and (M1) provide direct input to spinal circuitry and are critical for skilled movement control. Contrary to initial hypotheses, they can also be active during action observation, in the absence of any movement. A population-level understanding of this phenomenon is currently lacking. We recorded from single neurons, including identified PTNs, in (M1) (n = 187), and F5 (n = 115) as two adult male macaques executed, observed, or withheld (NoGo) reach-to-grasp actions. F5 maintained a similar representation of grasping actions during both execution and observation. In contrast, although many individual M1 neurons were active during observation, M1 population activity was distinct from execution, and more closely aligned to NoGo activity, suggesting this activity contributes to withholding of self-movement. M1 and its outputs may dissociate initiation of movement from representation of grasp in order to flexibly guide behaviour.
Highlights
The defining property of mirror neurons (MNs) is that they modulate their firing both when a monkey performs an action, and when it observes a similar action performed by another individual (Gallese et al, 1996; Rizzolatti and Fogassi, 2014)
We found that Precision Grip Whole-hand Grasp (PG) M1-Pyramidal tract neurons (PTNs) alignment was weakly significant for the split containing trials with above-median EMG (p = 0.048), but not for the split containing trials with the lower EMG level (p = 0.15)
We considered whether the temporal pattern of F5 and M1 population activity during the execution and observation of naturalistic grasping could provide a state-based explanation as to how observation activity is prevented from resulting in inadvertent movement
Summary
The defining property of mirror neurons (MNs) is that they modulate their firing both when a monkey performs an action, and when it observes a similar action performed by another individual (Gallese et al, 1996; Rizzolatti and Fogassi, 2014). Since their discovery in the macaque rostral ventral premotor cortex (F5), cells with mirror-like properties have been identified in parietal areas (Fogassi et al, 2005; Bonini et al, 2010; Lanzilotto et al, 2019), dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) (Cisek and Kalaska, 2004; Papadourakis and Raos, 2019), and even M1 (Tkach et al, 2007; Dushanova and 30 Donoghue, 2010; Vigneswaran et al, 2013). Most action observation paradigms require movement suppression, and the disfacilitation of spinal
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