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The Journal of Neuroscience, October 12, 2005, 25(41):9339-9346; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2282-05.2005

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Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Formation of a Motor Memory by Action Observation

Katja Stefan,^1,3 Leonardo G. Cohen,¹ Julie Duque,¹ Riccardo Mazzocchio,¹ Pablo Celnik,¹ Lumy Sawaki,¹ Leslie Ungerleider,² and Joseph Classen³

¹Human Cortical Physiology Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke-National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland 20892, ²Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health-NIH, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, and ³Human Cortical Physiology and Motor Control Laboratory, Department of Neurology, University of Würzburg, 97080 Würzburg, Germany

Mirror neurons discharge with both action observation and action execution. It has been proposed that the mirror neuron system is instrumental in motor learning. The human primary motor cortex (M1) displays mirror activity in response to movement observation, is capable of forming motor memories, and is involved in motor learning. However, it is not known whether movement observation can lead directly to the formation of motor memories in the M1, which is considered a likely physiological step in motor learning. Here, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to show that observation of another individual performing simple repetitive thumb movements gives rise to a kinematically specific memory trace of the observed motions in M1. An extended period of observation of thumb movements that were oriented oppositely to the previously determined habitual directional bias increased the probability of TMS-evoked thumb movements to fall within the observed direction. Furthermore, the acceleration of TMS-evoked thumb movements along the principal movement axis and the balance of excitability of muscle representations active in the observed movements were altered in favor of the observed movement direction. These findings support a role for the mirror neuron system in memory formation and possibly human motor learning.

Key words: action observation; motor cortex; human; plasticity; mirror neuron system; memory

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Received June 4, 2005; revised August 9, 2005; accepted August 28, 2005.

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