Basal Ganglia and Midbrain Contributions to Motor Planning

Introduction: Event-related fMRI provides a means for characterizing the brain activation during the planning phase preceding a movement and to derive the impact of initiation mode on the planning process. Here, the aim was to investigate more closely the involvement of different subcortical components of the motor network (particularly midbrain structures and basal ganglia) preceding a pre-learned finger sequence and to dissociate planning-related activation differences in the context of internally versus externally timed movement initiation (Boecker et al, in press). Methods: 12 right-handed male volunteers (m…