VISUAL STIMULI ASSOCIATED WITH SWALLOWING ACTIVATE MIRROR NEURONS: AN fMRI STUDY

Background and Aim: Human brain research in recent years has demonstrated the existence of mirror neurons in Brodmann areas (BA) 44, 6, and BA40. However, there has been almost no previous research on swallowing and mirror neurons. We have investigated the activity of mirror neurons during swallowingrelated visual stimulation. Subjects and Methods: Subjects were 15 healthy individuals (6 male, 9 female; average age 27.3 years; right-handed). Brain activity during the presentation of swallowing movements was measured using 3T-fMRI. The swallowing movement videos presented to subjects were conducted using 8 kinds of stimuli videos, and 8 kind of control videos. fMRI signal data were acquired based on the blood oxygenation leveldependent (BOLD) effect to analyze differences between the various swallowing videos and corresponding control videos by MATLAB and Simulink Statistical Parametric Mapping 5 (SPM5). Results: Activity in mirror neuron areas, was observed in condition of water swallowing, fluoroscopic video, lateral view (WXL) and chewing and swallowing, fluoroscopic video, lateral view (CXL). The mirror neuron areas was lefthemisphere dominant during the presentation of WXL and right-hemisphere dominant during the presentation of CXL. Significantly stronger activity was observed during WXL than during CXL. Conclusion: This study was suggested that activity in the mirror neuron areas has been observed in research on actual swallowing. It was suggested that there were dominant hemisphere like actual swallowing. Numerous studies have been reported the application of mirror neurons to rehabilitation. Therefore the use of videos shown in the study may have applications in swallowing rehabilitation in the future.