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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 26, 2026

Corticospinal Excitability Modulation During Action Observation

Corticospinal Excitability Modulation During Action Observation

Published on: December 31, 2013

Mirror adaptation in sensory-motor simultaneity.

Masataka Watanabe¹, Shion Shinohara, Shinsuke Shimojo

¹School of Engineering, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan. watanabe@tuebingen.mpg.de

|December 30, 2011

Summary

Observing others manipulate objects with delayed feedback shifts our sense of timing, suggesting mirror systems adapt sensorimotor timing. This adaptation is specific to action domains, not general sensory recalibration.

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Sensorimotor control
Motor learning

Background:

The mirror system in neuroscience explains how observing actions can activate corresponding motor areas in the brain.
This phenomenon is thought to facilitate motor skill acquisition through observation.
It remains unclear if this indirect learning operates at basic sensorimotor levels, involving temporal calibration of sensory feedback.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether sensorimotor adaptation to temporal delays in feedback can be influenced by observing others.
To determine if such effects are specific to action-related processing or represent a general sensory adaptation.

Main Methods:

Subjects passively observed an actor manipulating a computer mouse with delayed auditory feedback.

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Subjects also adapted to delayed auditory feedback during their own mouse manipulation.

A control "flash test" assessed simultaneity judgment of a visual stimulus and auditory feedback.

Main Results:

Passive observation of delayed auditory feedback during mouse manipulation shifted subjects' subjective sense of simultaneity.
Self-adaptation to delayed feedback also modulated simultaneity judgments for other subjects.
The control "flash test" showed no shift in simultaneity judgment under either condition.

Conclusions:

Recalibration of temporal perception is specific to the action domain, indicating action-specific sensorimotor adaptation.
These findings suggest a dedicated system for temporal monitoring of actions, processing both self-generated and observed actions.
The mirror system may play a role in calibrating the timing of sensorimotor feedback during action observation.