Microstate analysis reveals the temporal alignment of mirroring and mentalizing systems

The aim of the study is to understand how Mirror Neuron System (MNS) and Mentalizing Network (MZN) interact with each other. EEG data was collected during a photo judgment task with pictures of actions or facial expressions. Participants (N = 30, 63% women) were asked to either identify how the shown action/expression was being performed (MNS) or what the goal or intention behind the action was (MZN). Data were analyzed using microstate analysis, source localization and Event-Related Potentials. When comparing the action types, we found early divergence between the brain states of MNS and MZN when comparing the same action type. There was temporal alignment between the start and end time of the induced microstates, among the same action type. Between different action types, the timing was slightly shifted. Temporally, there was a greater overlap between the timing of the states between networks within the same action type as compared to within networks across action types. The MNS and MZN are acting in parallel rather then subsequently and possibly feed into each other. Furthermore, the MNS and MZN do not specifically react to one action type over the other, but their activity is influenced by the action type.