Neural correlates of sensory motor synchronization

BAVASSI, L; KAMIENKOWSKI JE; SIGMAN M; LAJE, R

Huerta Grande, Córdoba

Congreso; XXVI Reunión Anual de Sociedad Argentina de Neurociencias; 2011

Sociedad Argentina de Neurociencias

an action is coordinated with a predictable external stimulus (visual or auditory). Finger tapping to a metronome is a paradigmatic task in SMS studies. In this task the subject is instructed to tap in synchrony with a periodic sequence of brief tones, and the time difference between each stimulus and its corresponding response (asynchrony) is recorded. Despite being a very simple task, finger tapping involves several systems like auditory and time perception, time comparison, error correction and motor execution. We make a first step towards the identification of the neural correlates of the SMS by recording high-density EEG event-related potentials and the concurrent behavioral asynchronies during a finger tapping task. Through Principal Component Analysis, we found components whoseactivations are locked to either stimulus or response occurrence. Interestingly, we found some components carrying information about the higher-level percept of asynchrony XXms after the current stimulus-response pair, and the error correction process XXms before the following stimulus-response pair. We also found an asymmetry between advanced and delayed responses to the stimulus, that were in accordance with our predictions from a previous dynamical model and behavioural observations (Bavassi and Laje, in revision).