The effect of human agency in facilitating imitative actions

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event The effect of human agency in facilitating imitative actions Cristiano Crescentini1*, Paola Mengotti1, Alessandro Grecucci2 and Raffaella Ida Rumiati1 1 Cognitive Neuroscience Sector, Italy 2 Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, Italy Past research has shown that when individuals observe actions performed by a human model many areas in the observer’s motor system get activated. It is argued that these motor activations reflect motor simulation of the observed actions; the simulation would then serve action understanding and imitation. An implicit assumption is that imitating non human movements would make a difference. Despite recent work has strengthened this hypothesis by showing that the human motor system is biologically tuned during action observation, it remains to be shown whether human agency modulates the motor system during action execution. Here, we investigated the relationship between agency and imitation by performing functional imaging on a finger imitation task. We compared pattern of activations observed when participants executed a finger-tapping movement after having observed either a human or a robotic model (human/non-human agency) performing a compatible movement (finger-tapping; imitative condition) or an incompatible movement (finger-lifting; non-imitative condition). The facial expression of the model presented before the movement varied for emotional valence (angry, sad and neutral) to test possible roles of emotions in imitation. Behaviorally, participants showed a greater effect of compatibility (imitation faster than non-imitation movements) in the human condition, confirming a role for agency in imitation. In the imaging data, the interaction testing for areas more active in imitative movements vs. non imitative movements and performed by human vs. non-human, activated a brain network including the motor and somatosensory cortices. This data show for the first time that human agency modulates activation in the motor system facilitating the execution of imitative actions. Keywords: emotion, Imitative Conference: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster Sessions: Emotion, Motivation and the Social Brain Citation: Crescentini C, Mengotti P, Grecucci A and Rumiati R (2011). The effect of human agency in facilitating imitative actions. Conference Abstract: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00282 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 22 Nov 2011; Published Online: 28 Nov 2011. * Correspondence: Dr. Cristiano Crescentini, Cognitive Neuroscience Sector, SISSA, Italy, cristiano.crescentini@uniud.it Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Cristiano Crescentini Paola Mengotti Alessandro Grecucci Raffaella Ida Rumiati Google Cristiano Crescentini Paola Mengotti Alessandro Grecucci Raffaella Ida Rumiati Google Scholar Cristiano Crescentini Paola Mengotti Alessandro Grecucci Raffaella Ida Rumiati PubMed Cristiano Crescentini Paola Mengotti Alessandro Grecucci Raffaella Ida Rumiati Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.