Sensorimotor attenuation by central motor command signals in the absence of movement

Voluntary actions typically produce suppression of afferent sensation from the moving body part. We used transcranial magnetic stimulation to delay the output of motor commands from the motor cortex during voluntary movement. We show attenuation of sensation during this delay, in the absence of movement. We conclude that sensory suppression mainly relies on central signals related to the preparation for movement and that these signals are upstream of primary motor cortex.

[1]  J. Winn,et al.  Brain , 1878, The Lancet.

[2]  L. Cohen,et al.  Localization, timing and specificity of gating of somatosensory evoked potentials during active movement in man. , 1987, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[3]  B L Day,et al.  Delay in the execution of voluntary movement by electrical or magnetic brain stimulation in intact man. Evidence for the storage of motor programs in the brain. , 1989, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[4]  M Seyal,et al.  Suppression of cutaneous perception by magnetic pulse stimulation of the human brain. , 1992, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[5]  P. Ashby,et al.  The processing of human ballistic movements explored by stimulation over the cortex. , 1994, The Journal of physiology.

[6]  M. Hallett,et al.  Differentiation of sensorimotor neuronal structures responsible for induction of motor evoked potentials, attenuation in detection of somatosensory stimuli, and induction of sensation of movement by mapping of optimal current directions. , 1994, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[7]  Ulf Ziemann,et al.  Delay in simple reaction time after focal transcranial magnetic stimulation of the human brain occurs at the final motor output stage , 1997, Brain Research.

[8]  J C Rothwell,et al.  Pre-movement gating of short-latency somatosensory evoked potentials. , 1999, Neuroreport.

[9]  D. Wolpert,et al.  Spatio-Temporal Prediction Modulates the Perception of Self-Produced Stimuli , 1999, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[10]  C. E. Chapman,et al.  Time course and magnitude of movement-related gating of tactile detection in humans. III. Effect of motor tasks. , 2002, Journal of neurophysiology.

[11]  J. Edeline,et al.  Evoked oscillations in the thalamo-cortical auditory system are present in anesthetized but not in unanesthetized rats. , 2003, Journal of neurophysiology.

[12]  Hiroki Nakata,et al.  Gating of somatosensory evoked magnetic fields during the preparatory period of self-initiated finger movement , 2003, NeuroImage.

[13]  E. Fetz,et al.  Sensory input to primate spinal cord is presynaptically inhibited during voluntary movement , 2003, Nature Neuroscience.

[14]  D. Wolpert,et al.  Two Eyes for an Eye: The Neuroscience of Force Escalation , 2003, Science.

[15]  C. E. Chapman,et al.  Sensory perception during movement in man , 2004, Experimental Brain Research.

[16]  E. Holst,et al.  Das Reafferenzprinzip , 2004, Naturwissenschaften.

[17]  Patrick Haggard,et al.  Supplementary motor area provides an efferent signal for sensory suppression. , 2004, Brain research. Cognitive brain research.