Abstract

When we observe other people executing an action we are able to estimate what the underlying intentions of the person performing the action are. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying this ability. Many believe that this ability is made possible by responses in a network of brain areas that are consistently reported to be active when observing actions. This action-observation network (AON) consists of three bilateral cortical areas that are reciprocally connected, the ventral premotor cortex, inferior parietal lobule and superior temporal sulcus. (As some of the areas of the AON contain mirror neurons (Rizzolatti & Craighero, 2004; Chong et al., 2008; Kilner et al., 2009) this network is sometimes referred to as the mirror neuron system). Despite over a decade of neuroimaging research on the AON little is known about the functional role of each of these areas of the AON when observing actions.

Highlights

  • The results showed that the bilateral superior temporal cortex responded preferentially to videos with a human present, regardless of training experience, whereas the right ventral premotor cortex responded more strongly when observing sequences on which they had been trained, regardless of whether a human was present or not

  • The authors argue that this demonstrates that different areas of the action-observation network (AON) show different functional properties, the superior temporal cortex differentiating the form of the observed movement, and the right ventral premotor cortex response depending upon subjects’ prior experience of the action irrespective of the form

  • The AON is active during observation of an action because the cause of the action and the visual and proprioceptive visual expression or effect of that action are mapped through changes in connection strengths during periods of perceptual or associative learning

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Summary

Introduction

Dissociable functional roles of the human action-observation network Many believe that this ability is made possible by responses in a network of brain areas that are consistently reported to be active when observing actions. This action-observation network (AON) consists of three bilateral cortical areas that are reciprocally connected, the ventral premotor cortex, inferior parietal lobule and superior temporal sulcus.

Results
Conclusion
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