Multimodal Sensorimotor Integration of Visual and Kinaesthetic Afferents Modulates Motor Circuits in Humans.

Volker R Zschorlich,Frank Behrendt,Marc H E De Lussanet

doi:10.3390/brainsci11020187

Volker R Zschorlich, Frank Behrendt + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11020187

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Abstract

Optimal motor control requires the effective integration of multi-modal information. Visual information of movement performed by others even enhances potentials in the upper motor neurons through the mirror-neuron system. On the other hand, it is known that motor control is intimately associated with afferent proprioceptive information. Kinaesthetic information is also generated by passive, external-driven movements. In the context of sensory integration, it is an important question how such passive kinaesthetic information and visually perceived movements are integrated. We studied the effects of visual and kinaesthetic information in combination, as well as isolated, on sensorimotor integration, compared to a control condition. For this, we measured the change in the excitability of the motor cortex (M1) using low-intensity Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). We hypothesised that both visual motoneurons and kinaesthetic motoneurons enhance the excitability of motor responses. We found that passive wrist movements increase the motor excitability, suggesting that kinaesthetic motoneurons do exist. The kinaesthetic influence on the motor threshold was even stronger than the visual information. Moreover, the simultaneous visual and passive kinaesthetic information increased the cortical excitability more than each of them independently. Thus, for the first time, we found evidence for the integration of passive kinaesthetic- and visual-sensory stimuli.

Highlights

Sensorimotor control processes of targeted movements in sport and music require effective performance in the integration of different sensory modalities
Multimodal sensory integration is fundamentally important for motor control
The present data complement the current view of the neural basis of the integration process within the cerebral motor circuits

Summary

Introduction

Sensorimotor control processes of targeted movements in sport and music require effective performance in the integration of different sensory modalities. One method to investigate the interaction between visual sensory information and motor circuits on a neuronal level is the measure of single neuron activity This was carried out in the premotor cortices in non-human primates [7] and, more recently, even in the human brain [8]. Typical electrophysiological recordings of such mirror neurons in monkeys [7,9,10,11] have shown a discharge both during execution and perception of actions Since these integration processes involve numerous neurons in the motor cortex, the influence of visual information on motor circuits can be studied using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) [12,13,14,15]. The visual perception of motion activates sensory- and motor-representations in the brain [16,17,18,19]

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