Anticipatory Information Research Articles

Adaptive Vision-Based Gait Environment Classification for Soft Ankle Exoskeleton

Lower limb exoskeletons have been developed to improve functionality and assist with daily activities in various environments. Although these systems utilize sensors for gait phase detection, they lack anticipatory information about environmental changes, which limits their adaptability. This paper presents a vision-based intelligent gait environment detection algorithm for a lightweight ankle exosuit designed to enhance gait stability and safety for stroke patients, particularly during stair negotiation. The proposed system employs YOLOv8 for real-time environment classification, combined with a long short-term memory (LSTM) network for spatio-temporal feature extraction, enabling the precise detection of environmental transitions. An experimental study evaluated the classification algorithm and soft ankle exosuit performance through three conditions using kinematic analysis and muscle activation measurements. The algorithm achieved an overall accuracy of over 95% per class, which significantly enhanced the exosuit’s ability to detect environmental changes, and thereby improved its responsiveness to various conditions. Notably, the exosuit increased the ankle dorsiflexion angles and reduced the muscle activation during the stair ascent, which enhanced the foot clearance. The results of this study indicate that advanced spatio-temporal feature analysis and environment classification improve the exoskeleton’s gait assistance, improving adaptability in complex environments for stroke patients.

Analyzing symptom experiences and pathways to enhancing quality of life in adolescents with Moyamoya disease

PurposeThe psycho-emotional symptom experiences and health-related factors that influence the quality of life of adolescents with Moyamoya disease are still not fully understood. The aim of this study is to identify the daily physical and accompanying psychological symptom experiences of such adolescents, and to examine how health-related factors contribute to their quality of life. Design and methodThis study employed a descriptive cross-sectional research design. Data on a total of 134 adolescents with Moyamoya disease was analyzed in order to develop a path analysis. Data were collected from October 2019 to January 2021 in South Korea. The theory of salutogenesis was employed in order to develop a hypothetical model for this path analysis. Participants were given a self-reporting questionnaire. Descriptive analysis and path analysis were conducted based on the results. ResultsAdolescents with Moyamoya disease experienced several negative emotions simultaneously, regardless of the severity of their physical symptoms. The path analysis revealed that stress, a sense of coherence, behavior, and the support of friends were significant contributors to adolescents' quality of life. ConclusionsAdolescents with Moyamoya disease have multifaceted symptom experiences in their daily lives. To enhance their quality of life, it is crucial to provide support that can help strengthen their capacity for stress management and enhance their sense of coherence. Practical implicationsThis study provides evidence that nurses should offer anticipatory information to adolescents with Moyamoya disease regarding the symptoms they will frequently encounter, and develop interventions to enhance their quality of life.

Anticipatory information makes the difference: Behavioral effects and user assessments of a cyclist warning system to enhance cyclists’ situation awareness

Problem: Increasing numbers of crashes involving pedelecs, and particularly older pedelec users, induce a need to enhance cycling safety. We evaluated a prototype cyclist warning system (CWS) that aims to increase situation awareness (SA) by alerting to safety critical events (SCE) with trimodal (auditory, visual, tactile). Method: To investigate the effects of CWS usage, we conducted a 2x2 mixed design bicycle simulator study with factors (1) CWS usage (within: rides WITH vs. WITHOUT CWS) and (2) age group (between: younger vs. older cyclists) on braking reaction time, gaze behavior, mental workload, and perceived safety. In sum, N = 64 participants (n = 32 younger, 18–40 years; n = 32 older, ≥ 55 years) took part in the study and experienced two balanced blocks of short rides including SCE of particular relevance for cycling safety. Results: CWS usage resulted in earlier braking reactions to all investigated SCE and partly earlier fixation on the critical interaction partners (CIP) indicating increased cyclists’ SA. Consistently to behavioral measures, participants’ assessments regarding perceived safety further supported the safety improvements derived from CWS independently of age group. Moreover, CWS usage did not add to mental workload ratings. Age effects were selectively found for gaze data showing that across all SCE, older adults fixated longer and more frequently on street alignment, and less frequently on other road users. Discussion: Taken together, the CWS evaluation showed promising results indicating the potential of the tested CWS to increase SA and enhance cyclists’ safety both on a behavioral level and regarding subjective assessments. Further research should address the systems’ safety potential under real-world conditions and for situations of higher complexity. Practical Applications: Understanding the potential impact of road safety measures such as CWS is important to contribute effectively to reducing SCE.

Dysfunctional Activation of the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex During Pain Anticipation Is Associated With Altered Subsequent Pain Experience in Fibromyalgia Patients

The ability to accurately predict pain is an adaptive feature in healthy individuals. However, in chronic pain, this mechanism may be selectively impaired and can lead to increased anxiety and excessive avoidance behavior. Recently, we reported the first data demonstrating brain activation in fibromyalgia (FM) patients during conditioned pain responses, in which FM patients revealed a tendency to form new pain-related associations rather than extinguishing irrelevant ones. The aim of the present study was to extend our previous analysis, to elucidate potential neural divergences between subjects with FM (n = 65) and healthy controls (HCs) (n = 33) during anticipatory information (ie, prior to painful stimulus onset). Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the current analyses include 1) a congruently cued paradigm of low and high pain predictive cues, followed by 2) an incongruently cued paradigm where low and high pain predictive cues were followed by an identical mid-intensity painful pressure. During incongruently cued high-pain associations, FM exhibited reduced left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) activation compared to HCs, which was followed by an altered subsequent pain experience in FM, as patients continued to rate the following painful stimuli as high, even though the pressure had been lowered. During congruently cued low pain anticipation, FM exhibited decreased right dlPFC activation compared to HCs, as well as decreased brain connectivity between brain regions implicated in cognitive modulation of pain (dlPFC) and nociceptive processing (primary somatosensory cortex/postcentral gyrus [S1] and supplementary motor area [SMA]/midcingulate cortex [MCC]). These results may reflect an important feature of validating low pain expectations in HCs and help elucidate behavioral reports of impaired safety processing in FM patients. PerspectiveFM exhibited a stronger conditioned pain response for high-pain associations, which was associated with reduced dlPFC activation during the incongruent trial. During (congruent and incongruent) low pain associations, FM dlPFC brain activation remained indifferent. Imbalances in threat and safety pain perception may be an important target for psychotherapeutic interventions.

Taking into account a location of aircraft’s center of mass during motion cuing

Compared to other information sources, motion cues provide a pilot with anticipatory information about spatial position and movement of aircraft. For motion cueing a flight simulator cockpit is installed on a motion system, movement of which motion cueing. Therefore, motion system is one of the most important components of full flight simulators. The problem of effective use of constructive resources of six-degrees of freedom synergistic motion system has been solved. But the problem of improving the motion cueing remained unsolved, due to the fact that location of motion system center of rotation is significantly different from location of aircraf’s center of gravity, and motion cues differ from real, flight one. The study subject is motion cueing on flight simulators. The problem was solved on the basis of simplified operator for transformation of motion system movements along individual degrees of freedom into jack movements, cubic spline functions to describe the dependence of the centers of rotation along pitch and yaw, and optimization theory using the deformable polyhedron method. The formulated and solved problem of taking into account of location of aircraft’s center of gravity during motion cueing along pitch and yaw increases an efficiency of using of constructive resource of a six-degrees of freedom synergistic motion system, a motion cueing fidelity and training realism on flight simulator.

The availability of non-instrumental information increases risky decision-making

Contemporary models of decision-making under risk focus on estimating the final value of each alternative course of action. According to such frameworks, information that has no capacity to alter a future payoff (i.e., is “non-instrumental”) should have little effect on one’s preference for risk. Importantly, however, recent work has shown that information, despite being non-instrumental, may nevertheless exert a striking influence on behavior. Here, we tested whether the opportunity to passively observe the sequence of events following a decision could modulate risky behavior, even if that information could not possibly influence the final result. Across three experiments, 71 individuals chose to accept or reject gambles on a five-window slot machine. If a gamble was accepted, each window was sequentially revealed prior to the outcome being declared. Critically, we informed participants about which windows would subsequently provide veridical information about the gamble outcome, should that gamble be accepted. Our analyses revealed three key findings. First, the opportunity to observe the consequences of one’s choice significantly increased the likelihood of gambling, despite that information being entirely non-instrumental. Second, this effect generalized across different stakes. Finally, choices were driven predominantly by the likelihood that information could result in an earlier resolution of uncertainty. These findings demonstrate the importance of anticipatory information to decision-making under risk. More broadly, we provide strong evidence for the utility of non-instrumental information, by demonstrating its capacity to modulate primary economic decisions that should be driven by more motivationally salient variables associated with risk and reward.

Elevating the patient voice in contraceptive care quality improvement: A qualitative study of patient preferences for peripartum contraceptive care

ObjectivePatient-centeredness is an important indicator of peripartum contraceptive care quality. Prior work demonstrates how care fragmentation, provider biases, and other factors sometimes undermine the patient-centeredness and quality of this care. To guide the design of future quality improvement interventions, we explored patient preferences for peripartum contraceptive care. Study designFor this qualitative study, we recruited a convenience sample of individuals receiving prenatal care at the study site and participating in an online survey about their experience of peripartum contraceptive care during February–July 2020. We conducted individual, in-depth, semistructured interviews to assess patients’ preferences for peripartum contraceptive care. Using inductive and deductive qualitative content analysis, we evaluated interview data for patient preferences for peripartum contraceptive counseling and organized preferences into domains to inform future quality measurement. ResultsInterviews (lasting 7–26 min) included 21 postpartum individuals, who were largely White with high levels of formal education. Many participants described suboptimal care experiences characterized by insufficient information, inadequate centering of patient values, and, occasionally, disrespectful care. We identified four key themes describing patients’ desire for (1) comprehensive, anticipatory information from one’s peripartum provider; (2) counseling and decision-making that (a) prioritize patient preferences and values and (b) avoid pressure; (3) care that respects patient feelings and wishes; and (4) provider responsiveness to individual patient preferences regarding timing and frequency of counseling. ConclusionsWe newly identify four key domains of patient preferences for peripartum contraceptive care. Additional research is needed to understand peripartum contraceptive care preferences among diverse patient populations. Future research should develop validated measures for evaluating the patient experience of peripartum contraceptive care at scale, as part of ongoing efforts to improve the quality and respectfulness of peripartum care. ImplicationsPatients want peripartum contraceptive care to provide comprehensive, anticipatory information; elicit and respond to their counseling and decision-making preferences; and demonstrate respect for their wishes.

Anticipatory information sources of serve and returning of elite professional tennis players: A qualitative approach

Kinematic and contextual information is important for players as they can use these for anticipation and facilitating motor responses. The interaction of the use of this information with an understanding of how the mind works in elite players is crucial but difficult to obtain by empirical research methods. The aim was to: (i) explore and identify anticipatory information sources among professional tennis players, (ii) verify findings of Vernon et al. 1 and elaborate on these findings based upon the perspective of European players and coaches. We interviewed 9 active or former professional players (current coaches) for 30–60 min each, replicating the same methodology and questions as Vernon. 1 An open-coding analysis approach was used, with codes to identify common themes extracted from the transcribed interviews. Our findings were generally in support of Vernon's findings, verifying the importance of ball toss kinematics, contextual information sources such as the score or weather, as well as the importance of constantly updating the available kinematic and contextual information sources throughout the match. We elaborate on these findings by providing more detail regarding Vernon's findings, and add new sources of information mentioned by the interviewed players such as server's rear foot position and server's gaze. Participants shared information about their returning strategies, how they build pressure on the server, and their own service return practice, noting that this is not practiced as much as they would like it to be. Overall, focus on developing and improving visual anticipation skill is limited, even at this level of expertise.

Human machine interface design for continuous support of mode awareness during automated driving: An online simulation

In the transition towards higher levels of vehicle automation, one of the key concerns with regards to human factors is to avoid mode confusion, when drivers misinterpret the driving mode and therewith misjudge their own tasks and responsibility. To enhance mode awareness, a clear human centered Human Machine Interface (HMI) is essential. The HMI should support the driver tasks of both supervising the driving environment when needed and self-regulating their non-driving related activities (NDRAs). Such support may be provided by either presenting continuous information on automation reliability, from which the driver needs to infer what task is required, or by presenting continuous information on the currently required driving task and allowed NDRA directly. Additionally, it can be valuable to provide continuous information to support anticipation of upcoming changes in the automation mode and its associated reliability or required and allowed driver task(s). Information that could support anticipation includes the available time until a change in mode (i.e. time budget), information on the upcoming mode, and reasons for changing to the upcoming mode. The current work investigates the effects of communicating this potentially valuable information through HMI design. Participants received information from an HMI during simulated drives in a simulated car presented online (using Microsoft Teams) with an experimenter virtually accompanying and guiding each session. The HMI either communicated on automation reliability or on the driver task, and either included information supporting anticipation or did not include such information. Participants were thinking aloud during the simulated drives and reported on their experience and preferences afterwards. Anticipatory information supported understanding about upcoming changes without causing information overload or overreliance. Moreover, anticipatory information and information on automation reliability, and especially a combination of the two, best supported understandability and usability. Recommendations are provided for future work on facilitating supervision and NDRA self-regulation during automated driving through HMI design.

Threat and uncertainty in the face of perceptual decision-making in anxiety.

Anxiety is defined as an anticipatory response to uncertain, future threats. It is unknown how anticipatory information regarding uncertainty about upcoming threatening and neutral stimuli impacts attention and perception in anxiety. Individuals with and without anxiety disorders performed two perceptual decision-making tasks in which they used threat or neutral prestimulus cues to discriminate between subsequent threatening and neutral faces. In one task, cues provided no probability information (high uncertainty). In the other, cues indicated a high probability of encountering threatening or neutral faces (low uncertainty). Under high uncertainty only, anxious apprehension was associated with worse discrimination between threatening versus neutral faces after threat cues. Additionally, anxious arousal was associated with worse discrimination after neutral cues in individuals with anxiety disorders. These findings will advance the field by spurring the development of more comprehensive and ecologically valid models in which anticipatory top-down factors influence threat perception in anxiety. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Leveraging the temporal dynamics of anticipatory vowel-to-vowel coarticulation in linguistic prediction: A statistical modeling approach

Previous research has shown that coarticulatory information in the signal orients listeners in spoken word recognition, and that articulatory and perceptual dynamics closely parallel one another. The current study uses statistical classification to test the power of time-varying anticipatory coarticulatory information present in the acoustic signal for predicting upcoming sounds in the speech stream. Bayesian mixed-effects multinomial logistic regression models were trained on several different representations of spectral variation present in V1 in order to predict the identity of V2 in naturally coarticulated transconsonantal V1…V2 sequences. Models trained on simple measures of spectral variation (e.g. formant measures taken at V1 midpoint) were compared with models trained on more sophisticated time-varying representations (e.g. the estimated coefficients of polynomial curves fit to whole formant trajectories of V1). Accuracy in predicting V2 was greater when models were trained on dynamic representations of spectral variation in V1, and those trained on quadratic and cubic polynomial representations achieved the greatest accuracy, with more than 15 percentage points in correct classification over using midpoint formant frequencies alone. The results demonstrate that spectral representations with high temporal resolution capture more disambiguating anticipatory information available in the signal than representations with lower temporal resolution.

The economic effects of government spending: using expectations data to control for information

AbstractWe present a new methodology that uses professional forecasts to estimate the effects of fiscal policy. We use short-term forecasts to better identify exogenous shocks to government spending by controlling for anticipatory information already in the public domain. We use longer-term forecasts to net out expectations from the future path of other variables, which improves accuracy and efficiency by focusing on more precise measures of the impact of shocks. We show that this improves the statistical fit relative to both local projection methods and vector autoregression-based analyses that do not control for the entire future path of expectations.

Influence of Augmented Probabilistic Information on Defensive Motor Behaviors of 1 vs. 1 Basketball Play.

In this study we assessed the contribution of augmented probabilistic information on the motor behavior of novice defenders during 1 vs. 1 basketball play. More specifically, we aimed to investigate the influence of different probabilities of attacks to the basket (Level 1: High-probability of a single attack action; Level 2: Equal probability of two attack actions; Level 3: No-probability of an attack) on defensive reactions and their efficacy. Twenty-six novice participants volunteered and were assigned into three groups, based on their reaction time performance. Each participant performed 10 trials defending against typical basket attacks on a standard basketball court. Three experimental groups were primed regarding the probabilities of two forms of attack, either shooting at the basket or dribbling-past the defender (Group 1: 80% vs 20%; Group 2: 50% vs 50%; Group 3: No-probability of attack). Participants reacted earlier and with greater accuracy in the high-probability condition (80% vs 20%), than in the remaining conditions. We found that, in absence of kinematic information about their opponents, novice basketball players may have relied on the prior information we provided regarding an opponents' preferred actions during 1 vs. 1 basketball play. The provision of probabilistic information could be used as a training strategy to guide the defensive motor behaviors of novice basketball players when facing their counterparts in ball possession by favoring the use of anticipatory information to react earlier and successfully to the opponents' actions.

Suppression of the auditory N1 by visual anticipatory motion is modulated by temporal and identity predictability.

The amplitude of the auditory N1 component of the event‐related potential (ERP) is typically suppressed when a sound is accompanied by visual anticipatory information that reliably predicts the timing and identity of the sound. While this visually induced suppression of the auditory N1 is considered an early electrophysiological marker of fulfilled prediction, it is not yet fully understood whether this internal predictive coding mechanism is primarily driven by the temporal characteristics, or by the identity features of the anticipated sound. The current study examined the impact of temporal and identity predictability on suppression of the auditory N1 by visual anticipatory motion with an ecologically valid audiovisual event (a video of a handclap). Predictability of auditory timing and identity was manipulated in three different conditions in which sounds were either played in isolation, or in conjunction with a video that either reliably predicted the timing of the sound, the identity of the sound, or both the timing and identity. The results showed that N1 suppression was largest when the video reliably predicted both the timing and identity of the sound, and reduced when either the timing or identity of the sound was unpredictable. The current results indicate that predictions of timing and identity are both essential elements for predictive coding in audition.

External Human-Machine Interfaces Can Be Misleading: An Examination of Trust Development and Misuse in a CAVE-Based Pedestrian Simulation Environment.

ObjectiveTo investigate pedestrians’ misuse of an automated vehicle (AV) equipped with an external human–machine interface (eHMI). Misuse occurs when a pedestrian enters the road because of uncritically following the eHMI’s message.BackgroundHuman factors research indicates that automation misuse is a concern. However, there is no consensus regarding misuse of eHMIs.MethodsSixty participants each experienced 50 crossing trials in a Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) simulator. The three independent variables were as follows: (1) behavior of the approaching AV (within-subject: yielding at 33 or 43 m distance, no yielding), (2) eHMI presence (within-subject: eHMI on upon yielding, off), and (3) eHMI onset timing (between-subjects: eHMI turned on 1 s before or 1 s after the vehicle started to decelerate). Two failure trials were included where the eHMI turned on, yet the AV did not yield. Dependent measures were the moment of entering the road and perceived risk, comprehension, and trust.ResultsTrust was higher with eHMI than without, and the −1 Group crossed earlier than the +1 Group. In the failure trials, perceived risk increased to high levels, whereas trust and comprehension decreased. Thirty-five percent of the participants in the −1 and +1 Groups walked onto the road when the eHMI failed for the first time, but there were no significant differences between the two groups.ConclusioneHMIs that provide anticipatory information stimulate early crossing. eHMIs may cause people to over-rely on the eHMI and under-rely on the vehicle-intrinsic cues.ApplicationeHMI have adverse consequences, and education of eHMI capability is required.

Modelling range dynamics of terricolous lichens of the genus Peltigera in the Alps under a climate change scenario

Abstract Climate change is expected to strongly impact biodiversity in Alpine ecosystems and species distribution modelling is increasingly used to provide anticipatory information to guide conservation. In this study, (1) we quantified the range loss, range gain, range change and range turnover caused by climate change in the genus Peltigera a group of terricolous lichens widespread across the Alps, and then (2) we evaluated the relationships between the predictors of range dynamics and functional traits. Our results indicate moderate range dynamics for species of the genus Peltigera across the Alps under a climate change scenario. This would imply a relative stability and resistance of these lichens to climate change that may reflect the local persistence of the species under sub-optimal conditions. Our results also suggest that range dynamics could be associated with functional traits mainly related to water-use strategies and to a trade-off between dispersal and establishment ability. This finding suggests that functional traits may strongly modulate the lichen response to climate change and that species with similar functional traits are prone to similar selective pressures.

Nested oscillations and brain connectivity during sequential stages of feature-based attention

Brain mechanisms of visual selective attention involve both local and network-level activity changes at specific oscillatory rhythms, but their interplay remains poorly explored. Here, we investigate anticipatory and reactive effects of feature-based attention using separate fMRI and EEG recordings, while participants attended to one of two spatially overlapping visual features (motion and orientation). We focused on EEG source analysis of local neuronal rhythms and nested oscillations and on graph analysis of connectivity changes in a network of fMRI-defined regions of interest, and characterized a cascade of attentional effects at multiple spatial scales. We discuss how the results may reconcile several theories of selective attention, by showing how β rhythms support anticipatory information routing through increased network efficiency, while reactive α-band desynchronization patterns and increased α-γ coupling in task-specific sensory areas mediate stimulus-evoked processing of task-relevant signals.

Detecting anticipatory information in speech with signal chopping

Most analyses of articulatory processes in speech assume that word form-related changes in the state of the vocal tract have well-defined beginnings and ends. But how do we determine the precise moments in time when these beginnings and ends occur? More specifically, when should we expect information related to the sound categories of a word to be present in acoustic and articulatory signals? The framework of Articulatory Phonology/Task Dynamics predicts that the earliest time such information becomes available is when the first articulatory gesture of a word becomes active, which closely corresponds to when a movement is initiated. Alternatively, a recent extension of the Articulatory Phonology model holds that gestures may have an influence on the state of the vocal tract after they have been retrieved from memory, but before they become active and before canonical movement initiation. This paper presents evidence that indeed, anticipatory information is available much earlier than is typically assumed: the identity of a syllable onset gesture can be predicted from articulatory and acoustic data quite early, in some cases nearly half a second before movement initiation. Likewise, the identity of a coda gesture can be predicted during the period of time typically associated with an onset consonant. These findings were obtained with a novel analysis method called signal chopping which was paired with deep neural network based classification. In this approach articulatory and acoustic signals are systematically truncated in space and time, and a network training/test procedure is repeated on the chopped signals. By analyzing the effects of chopping on classification accuracy, gesture-specific information can be spatiotemporally localized.

How anticipatory information shapes subsequent emotion regulation.

Individuals often receive preceding information concerning future unpleasant events that will require regulating emotions. However, conceptual accounts explaining how the presence of anticipatory information, as well as biases in the content of anticipatory information, influence subsequent emotion regulation are lacking. We propose a novel account that explains how the cognitive processing of anticipatory information influences subsequent cognitive regulatory strategies. Specifically, the presence (vs. absence) of anticipatory information, which primarily influences attention toward upcoming unpleasant events, largely impacts subsequent attention-modulation regulatory strategies. By contrast, biased (vs. unbiased) contents of anticipatory information, that primarily influence the meaning of upcoming unpleasant events, largely impact meaning-modulation regulatory strategies. Our account further argues that the fit between the direction of influence of anticipatory information on cognition and the underlying mechanisms of cognitive down-regulation strategies determines regulatory challenge (i.e., effort and effectiveness of regulation). When anticipatory information decreases attention to, or negative meaning of, upcoming unpleasant stimuli, it fits a subsequent down-regulation goal to decrease attention or negative meaning, resulting in low regulatory challenge. However, when anticipatory information enhances attention to, or negative meaning of, upcoming unpleasant stimuli, it conflicts with a counter down-regulation goal to decrease attention or negative meaning (i.e., no fit), resulting in high regulatory challenge. Broad implications and future directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Predictive Impact of Contextual Objects during Action Observation: Evidence from Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

The processing of congruent stimuli, such as an object or action in its typical location, is usually associated with reduced neural activity, probably due to facilitated recognition. However, in some situations, congruency increases neural activity-for example, when objects next to observed actions are likely versus unlikely to be involved in forthcoming action steps. Here, we investigated using fMRI whether the processing of contextual cues during action perception is driven by their (in)congruency and, thus, informative value to make sense of an observed scene. Specifically, we tested whether both highly congruent contextual objects (COs), which strongly indicate a future action step, and highly incongruent COs, which require updating predictions about possible forthcoming action steps, provide more anticipatory information about the action course than moderately congruent COs. In line with our hypothesis that especially the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) subserves the integration of the additional information into the predictive model of the action, we found highly congruent and incongruent COs to increase bilateral activity in action observation nodes, that is, the IFG, the occipitotemporal cortex, and the intraparietal sulcus. Intriguingly, BA 47 was significantly stronger engaged for incongruent COs reflecting the updating of prediction in response to conflicting information. Our findings imply that the IFG reflects the informative impact of COs on observed actions by using contextual information to supply and update the currently operating predictive model. In the case of an incongruent CO, this model has to be reconsidered and extended toward a new overarching action goal.