Elsevier

Neuropsychologia

Volume 33, Issue 2, February 1995, Pages 215-223
Neuropsychologia

Bilateral and side-related reaction time impairments in patients with unilateral cerebral lesions of a medial frontal region involving the supplementary motor area

https://doi.org/10.1016/0028-3932(94)00101-TGet rights and content

Abstract

Human subjects (nine patients with unilateral brain lesions of a medial frontal region involving the supplementary motor area, SMA, and 10 controls) performed two reaction time (RT) tasks in response to the presentation of a luminous signal: an aimed movement towards a spatially defined target involving hand lifting and pointing with the index finger, and a no-aimed movement consisting of the hand lifting phase completed by the stabilization of the limb posture without any pointing. When compared with controls, the patients exhibited a bilateral RT increase which was more pronounced in the hand contralateral to the lesion. Moreover, comparison between the two tasks showed that this contralateral RT impairment was more marked in the no-aiming than in the aiming task. These results suggest that unilateral lesions of a medial frontal region involving the SMA cause two types of RT impairment in these motor tasks. The first may concern a supramotor function which acts bilaterally and initiates the motor programme of the limb movement as the first step of preparatory processes. The second component of this RT impairment would concern a supplementary motor function which consists of the feed forward control of the coupling between the hand lifting and the appropriate posture, just before the triggering of the limb movement. This interpretation leads to the hypothesis that the SMA region, and the medial motor system in general, may have a dual motor function.

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  • Cited by (14)

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      2010, Trends in Cognitive Sciences
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      It would be unreasonable to dismiss these cells as being of no functional importance. Indeed, patients with medial lesions that include the SMA show an increase in simple reaction times to a light, perhaps as the result of a lack of preparation for the stimulus [17]. However, monkeys with lesions in the SMA and pre-SMA do not make any more errors than normal on a visual conditional motor task in which colour cues specify which action should be performed [7].

    • Cortical adaptations and motor performance improvements associated with short-term bimanual training

      2006, Brain Research
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      The idea that SMA activity contributes to a decrease in RT is supported further through studies of the SMA and its role in temporal aspects of movement. Research has found that the SMA is important for (1) the precise timing of sequential movements (Halsband et al., 1993), (2) planning several movements ahead (Tanji and Shima, 1994), (3) reacting to unpredictably timed external cues (Thickbroom et al., 2000), and (4) initiating motor plans (Viallet et al., 1995). A lesion of the SMA, leading to a deficit of any of the functional roles listed above, can contribute to an increase in RT.

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