Action recognition disorders following parietal damage

Abstract

Abstract From the moment of our birth, we act in the world. Despite such a large motor experience, we have a poor subjective knowledge of the entire set of processes that underlie our motor skills. Interestingly, even if we remain largely unaware of the contents of our actions, we are usually good at judging whether an action has originated from ourselves or not. In the present chapter, we will review the putative mechanisms responsible for recognition of self-generated actions. We will suggest that the ability of an individual to perceive and visually recognize a given movement as his or her own (i.e. his or her motor awareness) relies on the opportunity to process anticipatory information on motor production as well as on the capacity to monitor motor execution online. Moreover, we will emphasize the necessity of mapping the acting limb correctly on a reliable body representation. Evidence for this hypothesis will be drawn from the study of brain-damaged subjects.