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Related Experiment Videos

Mapping implied body actions in the human motor system.

Cosimo Urgesi1, Valentina Moro, Matteo Candidi

  • 1Dipartimento di Scienze Neurologiche e della Visione, Sezione di Fisiologia Umana, Università di Verona, I-37134 Verona, Italy.

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience
|July 28, 2006
PubMed
Summary

Observing static images of ongoing human actions, like a pincer grip, activates specific motor areas. This suggests the brain

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Motor Control

Background:

  • The human visual system processes actual and implied motion.
  • Implied motion perception engages higher-order visual and biological motion areas.
  • Observing actions activates motor areas within the mirror-neuron system.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if observing static images of actions selectively activates the motor system.
  • To determine if this motor activation is specific to the muscles involved in the action.
  • To explore the role of implied motion in action observation.

Main Methods:

  • Used single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to measure corticospinal excitability.
  • Presented participants with static images of hands performing a pincer grip, resting hands, or completed actions.

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  • Also tested observation of nonbiological entities with and without implied motion.

    • Main Results:

    • Observation of a pincer grip action increased corticospinal excitability in specific muscles.
    • This effect was not observed for resting hands, completed actions, or nonbiological motion.
    • Motor evoked potential modulation was absent for end-posture stimuli.

    Conclusions:

    • Extrapolating implied motion from human actions selectively activates the motor system.
    • Overlapping motor regions are involved in analyzing physical and implied body actions.
    • The observation-execution matching system may be more responsive to ongoing, incomplete actions.