Different facets of object-use pantomime: online TMS evidence on the role of the supramarginal gyrus

Abstract

Background: A key question in apraxia research is which specific cognitive processes in pantomiming the parietal cortex supports. The manipulation-based hypothesis and the technical-reasoning hypothesis ascribe different roles to the inferior parietal lobule (IPL).

Objective: We elucidated the role of the left supramarginal gyrus (SMG, i.e., part of IPL) during the processing of different aspects of object-use pantomime.

Methods: Thirty-one healthy participants matched pantomimes with the corresponding object (PO) or the corresponding situation (PS) during online transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) interference applied to left SMG, compared to a control stimulation (vertex). Notably, the object corresponding to a given pantomime was explicitly not shown in the PS task, excluding the possibility to analyse a physical object. Matching an object to the corresponding situation (OS) served as a control task.

Results: TMS interference with left SMG significantly affected response times for both investigated pantomime tasks (PO and PS); the effect in the PO task significantly correlated with that in the PS task. As expected, no TMS effect was observed in the control task (OS).

Conclusion: Left SMG does not only establish a link between pantomime and a manipulable object but is also involved in pantomime recognition and comprehension. That TMS interfered with both pantomime tasks supports the manipulation-based hypothesis, assuming that the IPL recruits stored gesture engrams whenever pantomimes are processed.

Keywords: Action knowledge; Apraxia; Manipulation knowledge; Parietal cortex; Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).