RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Triggering mechanisms for motor actions: A mini meta-analysis and experimental data
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 360297
DO 10.1101/360297
A1 Li-Ann Leow
A1 Aya Uchida
A1 Jamie-Lee Egberts
A1 Stephan Riek
A1 Ottmar V. Lipp
A1 James Tresilian
A1 Welber Marinovic
YR 2018
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/07/04/360297.abstract
AB Motor actions can be released much sooner than normal when the go-signal is of very high intensity (> 100dBa). Although statistical evidence from individual studies has been mixed, it has been assumed that sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscle activity could be used to distinguish between two neural circuits involved in movement triggering. We summarized meta-analytically the available evidence for this hypothesis, comparing the difference in premotor reaction time (RT) of actions where SCM activity was elicited (SCM+ trials) by loud acoustic stimuli against trials in which it was absent (SCM- trials). We found ten studies, all reporting comparisons between SCM+ and SCM- trials. Our mini meta-analysis showed that premotor RTs are faster in SCM+ than in SCM- trials. We also present experimental data showing the effects of foreperiod predictability can induce differences in RT that would be of similar size to those attributed to the activation of different neurophysiological pathways to trigger prepared actions. We discuss plausible physiological mechanisms that would explain differences in premotor RTs between SCM+ and SCM-trials.