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Updated: Dec 28, 2025

Corticospinal Excitability Modulation During Action Observation
Published on: December 31, 2013
Action execution and action observation elicit mirror responses with the same temporal profile in human SII
Maria Del Vecchio1,2, Fausto Caruana3, Ivana Sartori4
1University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Metaboliche e Neuroscienze, 41100, Modena, Italy. maria.delvecchio@unimore.it.
Abstract:
The properties of the secondary somatosensory area (SII) have been described by many studies in monkeys and humans. Recent studies on monkeys, however, showed that beyond somatosensory stimuli, SII responds to a wider number of stimuli, a finding requiring a revision that human SII is purely sensorimotor. By recording cortical activity with stereotactic electroencephalography (stereo-EEG), we examined the properties of SI and SII in response to a motor task requiring reaching, grasping and manipulation, as well as the observation of the same actions. Furthermore, we functionally characterized this area with a set of clinical tests, including tactile, acoustical, and visual stimuli. The results showed that only SII activates both during execution and observation with a common temporal profile, whereas SI response were limited to execution. Together with their peculiar response to tactile stimuli, we conclude that the role of SII is pivotal also in the observation of actions involving haptic control.
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