How spontaneous brain activity encodes the observation of grasping movements

Spontaneous brain activity forms correlated networks resembling task-evoked activation patterns, yet its functional relevance remains debated. The representational hypothesis suggests that resting-state networks (RSNs) encode frequent behaviors, but whether these representations are motor-based or cognitive is unclear. Here, we used fMRI to examine RSNs activity during the observation of reach-to-grasp movements with either regular (common) or perturbed (uncommon) kinematics. We found that the dorsal attention network (DAN) exhibited greater similarity between rest and task patterns for common movements, whereas sensory networks showed no significant effects. While DAN is classically associated with attention mechanisms, these results suggest that it may also contribute to tracking the location or motion of the hand. Furthermore, uncommon movements elicited stronger activation in parietal and premotor areas, likely reflecting adaptive updating of internal models. Our findings support the role of spontaneous brain activity in maintaining cognitive representations of frequent behaviors, optimizing motor planning and perception.