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Not all observed actions are perceived equally
1Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
Scientific Reports
|December 8, 2017
Summary
The diffusion model accurately describes action observation across various classes. Performance differences in discriminating observed actions (OA) correlate with model parameters, particularly the bound, suggesting urgency signals in the posterior parietal cortex (PPC).
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Visual Perception
- Human Motor Control
Background:
- Action observation (OA) perception involves analyzing others' actions and movements.
- Previous research focused on manipulative actions and suggested viewpoint/duration dependence.
- Functional imaging identified distinct posterior parietal cortex (PPC) regions for different OA classes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test the applicability of the diffusion model to multiple classes of observed actions.
- To investigate how performance differences in discriminating observed actions relate to diffusion model parameters.
- To explore the role of PPC in action observation and potential urgency signals.
Main Methods:
- Applied the proportional-rate diffusion model to psychophysical data from action discrimination tasks.
- Analyzed performance (accuracy, reaction times) across various observed action (OA) classes.
- Correlated diffusion model parameters (e.g., bound) with observed action class characteristics.
Main Results:
- The diffusion model successfully fitted data for multiple observed action (OA) classes, extending beyond manipulative actions.
- Significant differences in discrimination performance were observed across different OA classes.
- These performance variations corresponded to differences in diffusion model parameters, notably the bound parameter.
Conclusions:
- The diffusion model provides a robust framework for understanding the cognitive processes underlying diverse action observation.
- Differences in the diffusion model's bound parameter across OA classes may reflect urgency signals originating from distinct PPC regions.
- This suggests specialized neural processing within the PPC for different categories of observed actions.
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