How the conception of control influences our understanding of actions.

Wilful movement requires neural control. Commonly, neural computations are thought to generate motor commands that bring the musculoskeletal system - that is, the plant - from its current physical state into a desired physical state. The current state can be estimated from past motor commands and from sensory information. Modelling movement on the basis of this concept of plant control strives to explain behaviour by identifying the computational principles for control signals that can reproduce the observed features of movements. From an alternative perspective, movements emerge in a dynamically coupled agent-environment system from the pursuit of subjective perceptual goals. Modelling movement on the basis of this concept of perceptual control aims to identify the controlled percepts and their coupling rules that can give rise to the observed characteristics of behaviour. In this Perspective, we discuss a broad spectrum of approaches to modelling human motor control and their notions of control signals, internal models, handling of sensory feedback delays and learning. We focus on the influence that the plant control and the perceptual control perspective may have on decisions when modelling empirical data, which may in turn shape our understanding of actions.

[Aphasia associated with lacunar infarctions]. / Aphasien bei lakunären Hirninfarkten.

BACKGROUND: Typical lacunar syndromes do not include aphasia but aphasia has been reported in rare atypical lacunar syndromes. OBJECTIVE: Description of the phenomenology and of affected fiber tracts. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Case series of three patients with lacunar stroke as evidenced by magnetic resonance imaging. Identification of affected fiber tracts via fiber tracking from coregistered lesion sites in brains of two healthy participants. RESULTS: The lacunar strokes that produced aphasia were located in the very lateral territory of perforating branches of the middle cerebral artery and extended along the external capsule into its most rostrodorsal aspect. Even though the cortex, thalamus and most parts of the basal ganglia were unaffected, patients exhibited a mild to moderate nonfluent aphasia with syntactic deficits. Fiber tracking revealed that in contrast to the nonaphasic control patient with a neighboring lacunar stroke, the aphasic patient strokes involved particularly fibers of the left arcuate fascicle as well as fibers of the frontostriatal and frontal aslant tracts. CONCLUSION: Left lateral lacunar stroke can cause clinically relevant aphasia through disruption of speech-relevant fiber tracts.

Low-Frequency Oscillations Code Speech during Verbal Working Memory.

The way the human brain represents speech in memory is still unknown. An obvious characteristic of speech is its evolvement over time. During speech processing, neural oscillations are modulated by the temporal properties of the acoustic speech signal, but also acquired knowledge on the temporal structure of language influences speech perception-related brain activity. This suggests that speech could be represented in the temporal domain, a form of representation that the brain also uses to encode autobiographic memories. Empirical evidence for such a memory code is lacking. We investigated the nature of speech memory representations using direct cortical recordings in the left perisylvian cortex during delayed sentence reproduction in female and male patients undergoing awake tumor surgery. Our results reveal that the brain endogenously represents speech in the temporal domain. Temporal pattern similarity analyses revealed that the phase of frontotemporal low-frequency oscillations, primarily in the beta range, represents sentence identity in working memory. The positive relationship between beta power during working memory and task performance suggests that working memory representations benefit from increased phase separation.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Memory is an endogenous source of information based on experience. While neural oscillations encode autobiographic memories in the temporal domain, little is known on their contribution to memory representations of human speech. Our electrocortical recordings in participants who maintain sentences in memory identify the phase of left frontotemporal beta oscillations as the most prominent information carrier of sentence identity. These observations provide evidence for a theoretical model on speech memory representations and explain why interfering with beta oscillations in the left inferior frontal cortex diminishes verbal working memory capacity. The lack of sentence identity coding at the syllabic rate suggests that sentences are represented in memory in a more abstract form compared with speech coding during speech perception and production.

Phonetic detail and lateralization of reading-related inner speech and of auditory and somatosensory feedback processing during overt reading.

Phonetic detail and lateralization of inner speech during covert sentence reading as well as overt reading in 32 right-handed healthy participants undergoing 3T fMRI were investigated. The number of voiceless and voiced consonants in the processed sentences was systematically varied. Participants listened to sentences, read them covertly, silently mouthed them while reading, and read them overtly. Condition comparisons allowed for the study of effects of externally versus self-generated auditory input and of somatosensory feedback related to or independent of voicing. In every condition, increased voicing modulated bilateral voice-selective regions in the superior temporal sulcus without any lateralization. The enhanced temporal modulation and/or higher spectral frequencies of sentences rich in voiceless consonants induced left-lateralized activation of phonological regions in the posterior temporal lobe, regardless of condition. These results provide evidence that inner speech during reading codes detail as fine as consonant voicing. Our findings suggest that the fronto-temporal internal loops underlying inner speech target different temporal regions. These regions differ in their sensitivity to inner or overt acoustic speech features. More slowly varying acoustic parameters are represented more anteriorly and bilaterally in the temporal lobe while quickly changing acoustic features are processed in more posterior left temporal cortices. Furthermore, processing of external auditory feedback during overt sentence reading was sensitive to consonant voicing only in the left superior temporal cortex. Voicing did not modulate left-lateralized processing of somatosensory feedback during articulation or bilateral motor processing. This suggests voicing is primarily monitored in the auditory rather than in the somatosensory feedback channel. Hum Brain Mapp 38:493-508, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Dopaminergic Modulation of Cognitive Preparation for Overt Reading: Evidence from the Study of Genetic Polymorphisms.

Choosing and implementing the rules for contextually adequate behavior depends on frontostriatal interactions. Observations in Parkinson's disease and pharmacological manipulations of dopamine transmission suggest that these corticobasal loops are modulated by dopamine. To determine, therefore, the physiological contributions of dopamine to task-rule-related processing, we performed a cue-target fMRI reading paradigm in 71 healthy participants and investigated the effects of COMT Val158Met, DAT1 VNTR 9/10, and DRD2/ANKK1 polymorphisms. The DRD2/ANKK1 polymorphism did not affect results. Intermediate prefrontal dopamine concentrations in COMT Val158Met heterozygotes facilitated preparatory interactions between the mesial prefrontal cortex and the left striatum during preparation for overt reading. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an inverted U-shaped curve modulation of cognition-related brain activity by prefrontal dopamine levels. In contrast, a linear effect of COMT Val158Met and DAT1 VNTR 9/10 polymorphisms on preparatory activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus pointed to a negative interaction between tonic lateral prefrontal and phasic subcortical dopamine. The COMT Val158Met polymorphism affected also feedforward and feedback processing in the sensorimotor speech system. Our results suggest that dopamine modulates corticobasal interactions on both the cortical and subcortical level but differently depending on the specific cognitive subprocesses involved.

Left dorsal speech stream components and their contribution to phonological processing.

Models propose an auditory-motor mapping via a left-hemispheric dorsal speech-processing stream, yet its detailed contributions to speech perception and production are unclear. Using fMRI-navigated repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), we virtually lesioned left dorsal stream components in healthy human subjects and probed the consequences on speech-related facilitation of articulatory motor cortex (M1) excitability, as indexed by increases in motor-evoked potential (MEP) amplitude of a lip muscle, and on speech processing performance in phonological tests. Speech-related MEP facilitation was disrupted by rTMS of the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), the sylvian parieto-temporal region (SPT), and by double-knock-out but not individual lesioning of pars opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus (pIFG) and the dorsal premotor cortex (dPMC), and not by rTMS of the ventral speech-processing stream or an occipital control site. RTMS of the dorsal stream but not of the ventral stream or the occipital control site caused deficits specifically in the processing of fast transients of the acoustic speech signal. Performance of syllable and pseudoword repetition correlated with speech-related MEP facilitation, and this relation was abolished with rTMS of pSTS, SPT, and pIFG. Findings provide direct evidence that auditory-motor mapping in the left dorsal stream causes reliable and specific speech-related MEP facilitation in left articulatory M1. The left dorsal stream targets the articulatory M1 through pSTS and SPT constituting essential posterior input regions and parallel via frontal pathways through pIFG and dPMC. Finally, engagement of the left dorsal stream is necessary for processing of fast transients in the auditory signal.

Actively but not passively synchronized motor activity amplifies predictive timing.

Previous studies have shown that the effect of temporal predictability of presented stimuli on attention allocation is enhanced by auditory-motor synchronization (AMS). The present P300 event-related potential study (N=20) investigated whether this enhancement depends on the process of actively synchronizing one's motor output with the acoustic input or whether a passive state of auditory-motor synchrony elicits the same effect. Participants silently counted frequency deviants in sequences of pure tones either during a physically inactive control condition or while pedaling on a cycling ergometer. Tones were presented either at fixed or variable intervals. In addition to the pedaling conditions with fixed or variable stimulation, there was a third condition in which stimuli were adaptively presented in sync with the participants' spontaneous pedaling. We replicated the P300 enhancement for fixed versus variable stimulation and the amplification of this effect by AMS. Synchronization performance correlated positively with P300 amplitude in the fixed stimulation condition. Most interestingly, P300 amplitude was significantly reduced for the passive synchronization condition by adaptive stimulus presentation as compared to the fixed stimulation condition. For the first time we thus provide evidence that it is not the passive state of (even perfect) auditory-motor synchrony that facilitates attention allocation during AMS but rather the active process of synchronizing one's movements with external stimuli.

Affective and sensorimotor components of emotional prosody generation.

Although advances have been made regarding how the brain perceives emotional prosody, the neural bases involved in the generation of affective prosody remain unclear and debated. Two models have been forged on the basis of clinical observations: a first model proposes that the right hemisphere sustains production and comprehension of emotional prosody, while a second model proposes that emotional prosody relies heavily on basal ganglia. Here, we tested their predictions in two functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments that used a cue-target paradigm, which allows distinguishing affective from sensorimotor aspects of emotional prosody generation. Both experiments show that when participants prepare for emotional prosody, bilateral ventral striatum is specifically activated and connected to temporal poles and anterior insula, regions in which lesions frequently cause dysprosody. The bilateral dorsal striatum is more sensitive to cognitive and motor aspects of emotional prosody preparation and production and is more strongly connected to the sensorimotor speech network compared with the ventral striatum. Right lateralization during increased prosodic processing is confined to the posterior superior temporal sulcus, a region previously associated with perception of emotional prosody. Our data thus provide physiological evidence supporting both models and suggest that bilateral basal ganglia are involved in modulating motor behavior as a function of affective state. Right lateralization of cortical regions mobilized for prosody control could point to efficient processing of slowly changing acoustic speech parameters in the ventral stream and thus identify sensorimotor processing as an important factor contributing to right lateralization of prosody.

Aberrant sensorimotor coupling and movement planning in complex regional pain syndrome.

ABSTRACT: Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is characterized by inflammation and a failure of multimodal signal integration in the central nervous system (CNS). Central nervous system reorganization might account for sensory deficits, pain, and motor symptoms in CRPS, but it is not clear how motor control is affected by CNS mechanisms. The present study characterized the motor performance and related cortical activity of 16 CRPS patients and 16 control participants during the planning of visually guided unimanual grips, in patients with either the unaffected left or the affected right hand, and investigated resting-state sensorimotor coupling in MRI. Patients started isometric movements further in advance of the "go" cue and earlier than control participants. Even when accounting for this different timing, results showed side-independent overactivation in planning-related sensorimotor regions in CRPS during manual grips and increased functional coupling between those regions at rest. Fear of movement or individual pain scores contributed only marginally to the observed effects. The study suggests that changes in planning-related sensorimotor CNS regions may explain difficulties with force exertion and motor control in CRPS.Perspective : Functional changes in motor planning-related brain regions might indicate that feedback-enhanced functional motor training may be effective for CRPS rehabilitation.

Oxytocinergic modulation of speech production-a double-blind placebo-controlled fMRI study.

Many socio-affective behaviors, such as speech, are modulated by oxytocin. While oxytocin modulates speech perception, it is not known whether it also affects speech production. Here, we investigated effects of oxytocin administration and interactions with the functional rs53576 oxytocin receptor (OXTR) polymorphism on produced speech and its underlying brain activity. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, 52 healthy male participants read sentences out loud with either neutral or happy intonation, a covert reading condition served as a common baseline. Participants were studied once under the influence of intranasal oxytocin and in another session under placebo. Oxytocin administration increased the second formant of produced vowels. This acoustic feature has previously been associated with speech valence; however, the acoustic differences were not perceptually distinguishable in our experimental setting. When preparing to speak, oxytocin enhanced brain activity in sensorimotor cortices and regions of both dorsal and right ventral speech processing streams, as well as subcortical and cortical limbic and executive control regions. In some of these regions, the rs53576 OXTR polymorphism modulated oxytocin administration-related brain activity. Oxytocin also gated cortical-basal ganglia circuits involved in the generation of happy prosody. Our findings suggest that several neural processes underlying speech production are modulated by oxytocin, including control of not only affective intonation but also sensorimotor aspects during emotionally neutral speech.

Spontaneous local variations in ongoing neural activity bias perceptual decisions.

Neural variability in responding to identical repeated stimuli has been related to trial-by-trial fluctuations in ongoing activity, yet the neural and perceptual consequences of these fluctuations remain poorly understood. Using functional neuroimaging, we recorded brain activity in subjects who reported perceptual decisions on an ambiguous figure, Rubin's vase-faces picture, which was briefly presented at variable intervals of > or = 20 s. Prestimulus activity in the fusiform face area, a cortical region preferentially responding to faces, was higher when subjects subsequently perceived faces instead of the vase. This finding suggests that endogenous variations in prestimulus neuronal activity biased subsequent perceptual inference. Furnishing evidence that evoked sensory responses, we then went on to show that the pre- and poststimulus activity interact in a nonlinear way and the ensuing perceptual decisions depend upon the prestimulus context in which they occur.

Simulation of talking faces in the human brain improves auditory speech recognition.

Human face-to-face communication is essentially audiovisual. Typically, people talk to us face-to-face, providing concurrent auditory and visual input. Understanding someone is easier when there is visual input, because visual cues like mouth and tongue movements provide complementary information about speech content. Here, we hypothesized that, even in the absence of visual input, the brain optimizes both auditory-only speech and speaker recognition by harvesting speaker-specific predictions and constraints from distinct visual face-processing areas. To test this hypothesis, we performed behavioral and neuroimaging experiments in two groups: subjects with a face recognition deficit (prosopagnosia) and matched controls. The results show that observing a specific person talking for 2 min improves subsequent auditory-only speech and speaker recognition for this person. In both prosopagnosics and controls, behavioral improvement in auditory-only speech recognition was based on an area typically involved in face-movement processing. Improvement in speaker recognition was only present in controls and was based on an area involved in face-identity processing. These findings challenge current unisensory models of speech processing, because they show that, in auditory-only speech, the brain exploits previously encoded audiovisual correlations to optimize communication. We suggest that this optimization is based on speaker-specific audiovisual internal models, which are used to simulate a talking face.

Neurocognitive deficits in patients suffering from glioma in speech-relevant areas of the left hemisphere.

OBJECTIVE: Patients with brain tumors frequently present neurocognitive deficits. Aiming at better understanding the impact of tumor localization on neurocognitive processes, we evaluated neurocognitive function prior to glioma surgery within one of four specific regions in the left speech-dominant hemisphere. METHODS: Between 04/2011 and 12/2019, 43 patients undergoing neurocognitive evaluation prior to awake surgery for gliomas (WHO grade I: 2; II: 6; III: 23; IV: 11) in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG; n = 20), the anterior temporal lobe (ATL; n = 6), the posterior superior temporal region/supramarginal gyrus (pST/SMG; n = 7) or the posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG; n = 10) of the language dominant left hemisphere were prospectively included in the study. Cognitive performances were analyzed regarding an influence of patient characteristics and tumor localization. RESULTS: Severe impairment in at least one neurocognitive domain was found in 36 (83.7%) patients. Anxiety and depression were observed most frequently, followed by verbal memory impairments. Verbal memory was more strongly affected in patients with ATL or pST/SMG tumors compared to IFG tumors (p = 0.004 and p = 0.013, resp.). Overall, patients suffering from tumors in the ATL were most frequently and severely impaired. CONCLUSION: Patients suffering from gliomas involving different regions within the language dominant hemisphere frequently present impairments in neurocognitive domains also other than language. Considering individual functions at risk may help in better advising patients prior to treatment and in tailoring the individual therapeutic strategy to preserve patients' quality of life.

Three stages and four neural systems in time estimation.

Gibbon's scalar expectancy theory assumes three processing stages in time estimation: a collating level in which event durations are automatically tracked, a counting level that reads out the time-tracking system, and a comparing level in which event durations are matched to abstract temporal references. Pöppel's theory, however, postulates a dual system for perception of durations below and above 2 s. By testing the neurophysiological plausibility of Gibbon's proposal using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we validate a three-staged model of time estimation and further show that the collating process is duplicated. Although the motor system automatically tracks durations below 2 s, mesial brain regions of the so-called "default mode network" keep track of longer events. Our results further support unique counting and comparing systems, involving prefrontal and parietal cortices in collators' readout, and the temporal cortex in contextual time estimation. These findings provide a coherent neuroanatomical framework for two theories of time perception.

Dual neural routing of visual facilitation in speech processing.

Viewing our interlocutor facilitates speech perception, unlike for instance when we telephone. Several neural routes and mechanisms could account for this phenomenon. Using magnetoencephalography, we show that when seeing the interlocutor, latencies of auditory responses (M100) are the shorter the more predictable speech is from visual input, whether the auditory signal was congruent or not. Incongruence of auditory and visual input affected auditory responses approximately 20 ms after latency shortening was detected, indicating that initial content-dependent auditory facilitation by vision is followed by a feedback signal that reflects the error between expected and received auditory input (prediction error). We then used functional magnetic resonance imaging and confirmed that distinct routes of visual information to auditory processing underlie these two functional mechanisms. Functional connectivity between visual motion and auditory areas depended on the degree of visual predictability, whereas connectivity between the superior temporal sulcus and both auditory and visual motion areas was driven by audiovisual (AV) incongruence. These results establish two distinct mechanisms by which the brain uses potentially predictive visual information to improve auditory perception. A fast direct corticocortical pathway conveys visual motion parameters to auditory cortex, and a slower and indirect feedback pathway signals the error between visual prediction and auditory input.

How the brain repairs stuttering.

Stuttering is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with left inferior frontal structural anomalies. While children often recover, stuttering may also spontaneously disappear much later after years of dysfluency. These rare cases of unassisted recovery in adulthood provide a model of optimal brain repair outside the classical windows of developmental plasticity. Here we explore what distinguishes this type of recovery from less optimal repair modes, i.e. therapy-induced assisted recovery and attempted compensation in subjects who are still affected. We show that persistent stuttering is associated with mobilization of brain regions contralateral to the structural anomalies for compensation attempt. In contrast, the only neural landmark of optimal repair is activation of the left BA 47/12 in the orbitofrontal cortex, adjacent to a region where a white matter anomaly is observed in persistent stutterers, but normalized in recovered subjects. These findings show that late repair of neurodevelopmental stuttering follows the principles of contralateral and perianomalous reorganization.

Differential contributions of the two cerebral hemispheres to temporal and spectral speech feedback control.

Proper speech production requires auditory speech feedback control. Models of speech production associate this function with the right cerebral hemisphere while the left hemisphere is proposed to host speech motor programs. However, previous studies have investigated only spectral perturbations of the auditory speech feedback. Since auditory perception is known to be lateralized, with right-lateralized analysis of spectral features and left-lateralized processing of temporal features, it is unclear whether the observed right-lateralization of auditory speech feedback processing reflects a preference for speech feedback control or for spectral processing in general. Here we use a behavioral speech adaptation experiment with dichotically presented altered auditory feedback and an analogous fMRI experiment with binaurally presented altered feedback to confirm a right hemisphere preference for spectral feedback control and to reveal a left hemisphere preference for temporal feedback control during speaking. These results indicate that auditory feedback control involves both hemispheres with differential contributions along the spectro-temporal axis.

Ongoing activity fluctuations in hMT+ bias the perception of coherent visual motion.

We have recently shown that intrinsic fluctuations of ongoing activity during baseline have an impact on perceptual decisions reported for an ambiguous visual stimulus (Hesselmann et al., 2008). To test whether this result generalizes from the visual object domain to other perceptual and neural systems, the current study investigated the effect of ongoing signal fluctuations in motion-sensitive brain regions on the perception of coherent visual motion. We determined motion coherence thresholds individually for each subject using a dynamic random dot display. During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), brief events of subliminal, supraliminal, and periliminal coherent motion were presented with long and variable interstimulus intervals between them. On each trial, subjects reported whether they had perceived "coherent" or "random" motion, and fMRI signal time courses were analyzed separately as a function of stimulus and percept type. In the right motion-sensitive occipito-temporal cortex (hMT+), coherent percepts of periliminal stimuli yielded a larger stimulus-evoked response than random percepts. Prestimulus baseline activity in this region was also significantly higher in these coherent trials than in random trials. As in our previous study, however, the relation between ongoing and evoked activity was not additive but interacted with perceptual outcome. Our data thus suggest that endogenous fluctuations in baseline activity have a generic effect on subsequent perceptual decisions. Although mainstream analytical techniques used in functional neuroimaging do not capture this nonadditive effect of baseline on evoked response, it is in accord with postulates from theoretical frameworks as, for instance, predictive coding.

Cognitive effects of rhythmic auditory stimulation in Parkinson's disease: A P300 study.

Rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) may compensate dysfunctions of the basal ganglia (BG), involved with intrinsic evaluation of temporal intervals and action initiation or continuation. In the cognitive domain, RAS containing periodically presented tones facilitates young healthy participants' attention allocation to anticipated time points, indicated by better performance and larger P300 amplitudes to periodic compared to random stimuli. Additionally, active auditory-motor synchronization (AMS) leads to a more precise temporal encoding of stimuli via embodied timing encoding than stimulus presentation adapted to the participants' actual movements. Here we investigated the effect of RAS and AMS in Parkinson's disease (PD). 23 PD patients and 23 healthy age-matched controls underwent an auditory oddball task. We manipulated the timing (periodic/random/adaptive) and setting (pedaling/sitting still) of stimulation. While patients elicited a general timing effect, i.e., larger P300 amplitudes for periodic versus random tones for both, sitting and pedaling conditions, controls showed a timing effect only for the sitting but not for the pedaling condition. However, a correlation between P300 amplitudes and motor variability in the periodic pedaling condition was obtained in control participants only. We conclude that RAS facilitates attentional processing of temporally predictable external events in PD patients as well as healthy controls, but embodied timing encoding via body movement does not affect stimulus processing due to BG impairment in patients. Moreover, even with intact embodied timing encoding, such as healthy elderly, the effect of AMS depends on the degree of movement synchronization performance, which is very low in the current study.

"Spontaneous" late recovery from stuttering: Dimensions of reported techniques and causal attributions.

PURPOSE: (1) To survey the employed techniques and the reasons/occasions which adults who had recovered from stuttering after age 11 without previous treatment reported as causal to overcome stuttering, (2) to investigate whether the techniques and causal attributions can be reduced to coherent (inherently consistent) dimensions, and (3) whether these dimensions reflect common therapy components. METHODS: 124 recovered persons from 8 countries responded by SurveyMonkey or paper-and-pencil to rating scale questions about 49 possible techniques and 15 causal attributions. RESULTS: A Principal Component Analysis of 110 questionnaires identified 6 components (dimensions) for self-assisted techniques (Speech Restructuring; Relaxed/Monitored Speech; Elocution; Stage Performance; Sought Speech Demands; Reassurance; 63.7% variance explained), and 3 components of perceived causal attributions of recovery (Life Change, Attitude Change, Social Support; 58.0% variance explained). DISCUSSION: Two components for self-assisted techniques (Speech Restructuring; Elocution) reflect treatment methods. Another component (Relaxed/Monitored Speech) consists mainly of items that reflect a common, non-professional understanding of effective management of stuttering. The components of the various perceived reasons for recovery reflect differing implicit theories of causes for recovery from stuttering. These theories are considered susceptible to various biases. This identification of components of reported techniques and of causal attributions is novel compared to previous studies who just list techniques and attributions. CONCLUSION: The identified dimensions of self-assisted techniques and causal attributions to reduce stuttering as extracted from self-reports of a large, international sample of recovered formerly stuttering adults may guide the application of behavioral stuttering therapies.