Title
"How Did I Make It?": Uncertainty about Own Motor Performance after Inhibition of the Premotor Cortex.
Abstract
Optimal motor performance requires the monitoring of sensorimotor input to ensure that the motor output matches current intentions. The brain is thought to be equipped with a \"comparator\" system, which monitors and detects the congruence between intended and actual movement; results of such a comparison can reach awareness. This study explored in healthy participants whether the cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation tDCS of the right premotor cortex PM and right posterior parietal cortex PPC can disrupt performance monitoring in a skilled motor task. Before and after tDCS, participants underwent a two-digit sequence motor task; in post-tDCS session, single-pulse TMS sTMS was applied to the right motor cortex, contralateral to the performing hand, with the aim of interfering with motor execution. Then, participants rated on a five-item questionnaire their performance at the motor task. Cathodal tDCS of PM but not sham or PPC tDCS impaired the participants' ability to evaluate their motor performance reliably, making them unconfident about their judgments. Congruently with the worsened motor performance induced by sTMS, participants reported to have committed more errors after sham and PPC tDCS; such a correlation was not significant after PM tDCS. In line with current computational and neuropsychological models of motor control and awareness, the present results show that a mechanism in the PM monitors and compares intended versus actual movements, evaluating their congruence. Cathodal tDCS of the PM impairs the activity of such a \"comparator,\" disrupting self-confidence about own motor performance.
Year
DOI
Venue
2016
10.1162/jocn_a_00950
J. Cognitive Neuroscience
Field
DocType
Volume
Cognitive neuroscience,Neuroscience,Performance monitoring,Premotor cortex,Psychology,Motor control,Posterior parietal cortex,Right posterior,Transcranial direct-current stimulation,Neuropsychology
Journal
28
Issue
ISSN
Citations 
7
0898-929X
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
1
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Nadia Bolognini1256.31
Luca Zigiotto200.34
Maíra Izzadora Souza Carneiro300.34
Giuseppe Vallar4152.77