TY - JOUR

T1 - Cognitive Control Structures in the Imitation Learning of Spatial Sequences and Rhythms—An fMRI Study

AU - Sakreida, Katrin

AU - Higuchi, Satomi

AU - Di Dio, Cinzia

AU - Ziessler, Michael

AU - Turgeon, Martine

AU - Roberts, Neil

AU - Vogt, Stefan Reinhold

N1 - This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Cerebral Cortex following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Katrin Sakreida, Satomi Higuchi, Cinzia Di Dio, Michael Ziessler, Martine Turgeon, Neil Roberts, Stefan Vogt; Cognitive Control Structures in the Imitation Learning of Spatial Sequences and Rhythms—An fMRI Study, Cerebral Cortex, Volume 28, Issue 3, 1 March 2018, Pages 907–923, https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhw414 is available online at: https://academic.oup.com/cercor/article/28/3/907/2888458

PY - 2018/3/1

Y1 - 2018/3/1

N2 - Imitation learning involves the acquisition of novel motor patterns based on action observation (AO). We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to study the imitation learning of spatial sequences and rhythms during AO, motor imagery (MI), and imitative execution in nonmusicians and musicians. While both tasks engaged the fronto-parietal mirror circuit, the spatial sequence task recruited posterior parietal and dorsal premotor regions more strongly. The rhythm task involved an additional network for auditory working memory. This partial dissociation supports the concept of task-specific mirror mechanisms. Two regions of cognitive control were identified: 1) dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) was found to be more strongly activated during MI of novel spatial sequences, which allowed us to extend the 2-level model of imitation learning by Buccino et al. (2004) to spatial sequences. 2) During imitative execution of both tasks, the posterior medial frontal cortex was robustly activated, along with the DLPFC, which suggests that both regions are involved in the cognitive control of imitation learning. The musicians’ selective behavioral advantage for rhythm imitation was reflected cortically in enhanced sensory-motor processing during AO and by the absence of practice-related activation differences in DLPFC during rhythm execution.

AB - Imitation learning involves the acquisition of novel motor patterns based on action observation (AO). We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to study the imitation learning of spatial sequences and rhythms during AO, motor imagery (MI), and imitative execution in nonmusicians and musicians. While both tasks engaged the fronto-parietal mirror circuit, the spatial sequence task recruited posterior parietal and dorsal premotor regions more strongly. The rhythm task involved an additional network for auditory working memory. This partial dissociation supports the concept of task-specific mirror mechanisms. Two regions of cognitive control were identified: 1) dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) was found to be more strongly activated during MI of novel spatial sequences, which allowed us to extend the 2-level model of imitation learning by Buccino et al. (2004) to spatial sequences. 2) During imitative execution of both tasks, the posterior medial frontal cortex was robustly activated, along with the DLPFC, which suggests that both regions are involved in the cognitive control of imitation learning. The musicians’ selective behavioral advantage for rhythm imitation was reflected cortically in enhanced sensory-motor processing during AO and by the absence of practice-related activation differences in DLPFC during rhythm execution.

KW - cognitive control

KW - fronto-parietal mirror circuit

KW - motor imagery

KW - musical expertise

KW - performance monitoring

U2 - 10.1093/cercor/bhw414

DO - 10.1093/cercor/bhw414

M3 - Journal article

VL - 28

SP - 907

EP - 923

JO - Cerebral Cortex

JF - Cerebral Cortex

SN - 1047-3211

IS - 3

ER -