Electrifying discourse: Anodal tDCS of the primary motor cortex selectively reduces action appraisal in naturalistic narratives

Birba, Agustina; Vitale, Francesca; Padrón, Iván; Dottori, Martín; Vega, Manuel de; Zimerman, Máximo; Sedeño, Lucas; Ibáñez, Agustín; García, Adolfo M.

doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2020.08.005

Cited by 17 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…Accordingly, our approach also meets recent demands for more ecological assessments of language ( Verga and Kotz, 2018 ), in general, and FLE ( Carreno and Donaire, 2008 ), in particular. More specifically, this approach informs recent calls for studies that inform neurocognitive models of naturalistic language processing ( Verga and Kotz, 2018 ), including embodied domains ( Birba et al, 2020b ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Multimodal neurocognitive markers of frontal lobe epilepsy: Insights from ecological text processing

et al. 2021

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The pressing call to detect sensitive cognitive markers of frontal lobe epilepsy (FLE) remains poorly addressed. Standard frameworks prove nosologically unspecific (as they reveal deficits that also emerge across other epilepsy subtypes), possess low ecological validity, and are rarely supported by multimodal neuroimaging assessments. To bridge these gaps, we examined naturalistic action and non-action text comprehension, combined with structural and functional connectivity measures, in 19 FLE patients, 19 healthy controls, and 20 posterior cortex epilepsy (PCE) patients. Our analyses integrated inferential statistics and data-driven machine-learning classifiers. FLE patients were selectively and specifically impaired in action comprehension, irrespective of their neuropsychological profile. These deficits selectively and specifically correlated with (a) reduced integrity of the anterior thalamic radiation, a subcortical structure underlying motoric and action-language processing as well as epileptic seizure spread in this subtype; and (b) hypoconnectivity between the primary motor cortex and the left-parietal/supramarginal regions, two putative substrates of action-language comprehension. Moreover, machine-learning classifiers based on the above neurocognitive measures yielded 75% accuracy rates in discriminating individual FLE patients from both controls and PCE patients. Briefly, action-text assessments, combined with structural and functional connectivity measures, seem to capture ecological cognitive deficits that are specific to FLE, opening new avenues for discriminatory characterizations among epilepsy types.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Multimodal neurocognitive markers of frontal lobe epilepsy: Insights from ecological text processing

et al. 2021

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“…Action-concept processing was significantly boosted only in the atDCS group, corroborating that this domain hinges on cortical motor activity in PD [22] and can be modulated upon M1 stimulation in different populations [27,[40][41][42][43]. Importantly, no such effect was observed for object-noun outcomes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

“…Previous reports indicate that action-concept deficits in PD are uninfluenced by domain-general impairment [6,14,15,17,21,68,81]. The same is true of action-concept effects induced through M1 atDCS [27] or ecological bodily training [97] in different populations. In line with these findings, our results indicate that action-concept gains following M1 stimulation in PD represent sui generis effects rather than secondary consequences of other unspecific cognitive changes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Moreover, our results suggest that the observed action-concept improvements were not mainly driven by CT, as this intervention was present in sham participants, who exhibited no pre-post differences. Still, our design does not reveal whether M1 atDCS alone is sufficient to induce analogous effects, or if it acts by boosting proto-effects induced by CT. Suggestively, M1 neurostimulation, on its own, has been observed to selectively modulate action-concept processing in healthy subjects [27,40,113,114]. Future studies should explore whether the same is possible in PD cohorts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Still, future studies could replicate our work while incorporating such a sample to reveal whether the stimulation manages to abolish or merely attenuate the patients' action-concept deficits. Moreover, this would allow for exploring whether the effects observed in PD patients manifest similarly or differentially in healthy participants [27]. Additionally, to further test the regional specificity of M1 neuromodulation on the observed results, future studies could complement our approach with stimulation of a control site, ideally accounting for possible propagation effects onto other cortical regions.…”

Section: Limitations and Avenues For Further Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rekindling Action Language: A Neuromodulatory Study on Parkinson’s Disease Patients

et al. 2021

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Impairments of action semantics (a cognitive domain that critically engages motor brain networks) are pervasive in early Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, no study has examined whether action semantic skills in persons with this disease can be influenced by non-invasive neuromodulation. Here, we recruited 22 PD patients and performed a five-day randomized, blinded, sham-controlled study to assess whether anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (atDCS) over the primary motor cortex, combined with cognitive training, can boost action–concept processing. On day 1, participants completed a picture–word association (PWA) task involving action-verb and object-noun conditions. They were then randomly assigned to either an atDCS (n = 11, 2 mA for 20 m) or a sham tDCS (n = 11, 2 mA for 30 s) group and performed an online PWA practice over three days. On day 5, they repeated the initial protocol. Relative to sham tDCS, the atDCS group exhibited faster reaction times for action (as opposed to object) concepts in the post-stimulation test. This result was exclusive to the atDCS group and held irrespective of the subjects’ cognitive, executive, and motor skills, further attesting to its specificity. Our findings suggest that action-concept deficits in PD are distinctively grounded in motor networks and might be countered by direct neuromodulation of such circuits. Moreover, they provide new evidence for neurosemantic models and inform a thriving agenda in the embodied cognition framework.

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An action-concept processing advantage in a patient with a double motor cortex

Miranda

Campo

Birba

et al. 2022

Brain and Cognition

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Electrifying discourse: Anodal tDCS of the primary motor cortex selectively reduces action appraisal in naturalistic narratives

Cited by 17 publications

References 80 publications

Multimodal neurocognitive markers of frontal lobe epilepsy: Insights from ecological text processing

Multimodal neurocognitive markers of frontal lobe epilepsy: Insights from ecological text processing

Rekindling Action Language: A Neuromodulatory Study on Parkinson’s Disease Patients

An action-concept processing advantage in a patient with a double motor cortex

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