Testing the connection of the mirror system and speech: how articulation affects imitation in a simple response task

There seems to be a close connection between speech and action, which we experience almost daily when we try to support our verbal expressions with gestures. Recently, the assumption that the language system and the action system are intimately linked has received support from brain imaging research showing that imitation and language production involve the same cortical structure, namely Broca's area. However, if the assumption of a functional interdependency holds true, one would predict that language production and imitation should interact on the behavioural level. We have tested this assumption in a series of experiments in which we investigated the influence of an articulation task on imitation. Here we show that articulation has a specific influence on the imitation of finger movements when compared to a non-imitative stimulus-response (S-R) association. These findings provide strong experimental support for the assumption that language production and imitation share common functional mechanisms.