Zenon, Alexandre
[UCL]
Klein, Pierre-Alexandre
[UCL]
Alamia, Andrea
[UCL]
Boursoit, François
[UCL]
Wilhelm, Emmanuelle
[UCL]
Duque, Julie
[UCL]
Background: During motor decision making, the neural activity in primary motor cortex (M1) encodes dynamically the competition occurring between potential action plans. A common view is that M1 represents the unfolding of the outcome of a decision process taking place upstream. Yet, M1 could also be directly involved in the decision process. Objective: Here we tested this hypothesis by assessing the effect of M1 disruption on a motor decisionmaking task. Methods: We applied continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) to inhibit either left or right M1 in different groups of subjects and included a third control group with no stimulation. Following cTBS, participants performed a task that required them to choose between two finger key-presses with the right hand according to both perceptual and value-based information. Effects were assessed by means of generalized linear mixed models and computational simulations. Results: In all three groups, subjects relied both on perceptual (P < 0.0001) and value-based information (P ¼ 0.003) to reach a decision. Yet, left M1 disruption led to an increased reliance on value-based information (P ¼ 0.03). This result was confirmed by a computational model showing an increased weight of the valued-based process on the right hand finger choices following left M1 cTBS (P < 0.01). Conclusion: These results indicate that M1 is involved in motor decision making, possibly by weighting the final integration of multiple sources of evidence driving motor behaviors.
Bibliographic reference |
Zenon, Alexandre ; Klein, Pierre-Alexandre ; Alamia, Andrea ; Boursoit, François ; Wilhelm, Emmanuelle ; et. al. Increased reliance on value-based decision processes following motor cortex disruption.. In: Brain Stimulation : basic, translational and clinical research in neuroscience, Vol. 8, no. 5, p. 957-64 |
Permanent URL |
http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/162134 |