The dorsal premotor cortex encodes the step-by-step planning processes for goal-directed motor behavior in humans
Yoshihisa Nakayama,
Sho K. Sugawara,
Masaki Fukunaga,
Yuki H. Hamano,
Norihiro Sadato,
Yukio Nishimura
Affiliations
Yoshihisa Nakayama
Neural Prosthetics Project, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Kamikitazawa 2-1-6, Setagaya, Tokyo 156-8506, Japan; Frontal Lobe Function Project, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Setagaya, Tokyo 156-8506, Japan; Corresponding author at: Neural Prosthetics Project, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Kamikitazawa 2-1-6, Setagaya, Tokyo 156-8506, Japan.
Sho K. Sugawara
Neural Prosthetics Project, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Kamikitazawa 2-1-6, Setagaya, Tokyo 156-8506, Japan; Division of Cerebral Integration, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Aichi 444-8585, Japan
Masaki Fukunaga
Division of Cerebral Integration, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Aichi 444-8585, Japan; Department of Physiological Sciences, SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), Hayama, Kanagawa 240-0193, Japan
Yuki H. Hamano
Division of Cerebral Integration, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Aichi 444-8585, Japan
Norihiro Sadato
Division of Cerebral Integration, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Aichi 444-8585, Japan; Department of Physiological Sciences, SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), Hayama, Kanagawa 240-0193, Japan
Yukio Nishimura
Neural Prosthetics Project, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Kamikitazawa 2-1-6, Setagaya, Tokyo 156-8506, Japan
The dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) plays an essential role in visually guided goal-directed motor behavior. Although there are several planning processes for achieving goal-directed behavior, the separate neural processes are largely unknown. Here, we created a new visuo-goal task to investigate the step-by-step planning processes for visuomotor and visuo-goal behavior in humans. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found activation in different portions of the bilateral PMd during each processing step. In particular, the activated area for rule-based visuomotor and visuo-goal mapping was located at the ventrorostral portion of the bilateral PMd, that for action plan specification was at the dorsocaudal portion of the left PMd, that for transformation was at the rostral portion of the left PMd, and that for action preparation was at the caudal portion of the bilateral PMd. Thus, the left PMd was involved throughout all of the processes, but the right PMd was involved only in rule-based visuomotor and visuo-goal mapping and action preparation. The locations related to each process were generally spatially separated from each other, but they overlapped partially. These findings revealed that there are functional subregions in the bilateral PMd in humans and these subregions form a functional gradient to achieve goal-directed behavior.
