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Corticospinal Excitability Modulation During Action Observation
Published on: December 31, 2013
Functional imaging of the parietal cortex during action execution and observation
Mina N Evangeliou1, Vassilis Raos, Claudio Galletti
1Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Crete, Iraklion, Crete, Greece.
Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
|July 22, 2008
Summary
Neural networks in the parietal cortex are active during both performing and observing reaching actions. This extensive overlap supports the mental simulation theory for understanding actions.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Primate Brain Research
Background:
- Understanding how the brain processes observed actions is crucial for comprehending social cognition.
- Previous research has explored neural correlates of action observation and execution, but a comprehensive mapping in primates is needed.
- The role of parietal cortex in action understanding remains a key area of investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To map functional brain activity in the primate parietal cortex during execution versus observation of reaching and grasping.
- To investigate the neural basis of action understanding and differentiate between 'mental simulation' and 'mirroring' theories.
- To compare brain activation patterns between performing actions and observing them.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the (14)C-deoxyglucose method to measure functional activity in specific parietal and parieto-occipital cortical areas of monkeys.
- Monkeys either executed reaching and grasping of a 3D object or observed these actions performed by a human.
- Analyzed and compared metabolic activity across different cortical regions for both conditions.
Main Results:
- Execution of reaching-to-grasp activated numerous superior, intraparietal, inferior, and medial parietal areas, including SI-forelimb/convexity, PE, PEc, PEip, MIP, VIP, AIP, PF, PG, V6, PGm/7m, and retrosplenial cortex.
- Observation of reaching-to-grasp activated a largely overlapping set of areas, including SI-forelimb/convexity, PE lateral, PEc, PEip, MIP, VIP, AIP, PF, V6, PGm/7m, 31, and retrosplenial cortex.
- Common activations were more pronounced during execution than observation, with smaller interhemispheric differences during observation, suggesting a role in agent attribution.
Conclusions:
- The extensive overlap in parietal network activation for both action execution and observation strongly supports the 'mental simulation theory'.
- This theory posits that understanding others' actions relies on the same distributed neural networks used for performing actions.
- Findings challenge the 'mirroring' concept, which attributes action understanding solely to specific cell classes in limited cortical areas.
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