I Know What You Are Doing

Abstract

In the ventral premotor cortex of the macaque monkey, there are neurons that discharge both during the execution of hand actions and during the observation of the same actions made by others (mirror neurons). In the present study, we show that a subset of mirror neurons becomes active during action presentation and also when the final part of the action, crucial in triggering the response in full vision, is hidden and can therefore only be inferred. This implies that the motor representation of an action performed by others can be internally generated in the observer's premotor cortex, even when a visual description of the action is lacking. The present findings support the hypothesis that mirror neuron activation could be at the basis of action recognition.

Motor ontology: the representational reality of goals, actions and selves

“…Perhaps even more intriguing are recent data from monkey experiments conducted by Umiltà et al (2001), in which F5 mirror neurons were tested when the monkey could see the entire action (e.g. a hand grasping action), or when the same action was presented but its final critical part, that is the hand-object interaction, hidden.…”

Knowing beans: human mirror mechanisms revealed through motor adaptation

“…It is likely that Kilner et al (2009) were successful because (a) they focused on IFG rather than whole brain imaging thus obtaining more observations in this critical area for mirror neurons, and (b) they used tasks with clear action goals rather than mimed movements. Monkey mirror neurons appear to be more sensitive to movements with clear goals than those without (e.g., Umiltà et al, 2001), and the same might be true in humans.…”

“…For example, a mirror neuron will be active when an action on an object is completed behind a barrier, but not when the animal knows that there is no object behind the barrier (Umiltà et al, 2001). Also, a mirror neuron will fire when pliers operated by the animal close on a target, and the same neuron is active when the pliers operate by a hand-closing or a hand-opening movement (Umiltà et al, 2008).…”

Power modulation of electroencephalogram mu and beta frequency depends on perceived level of observed actions

“…2001). Additionally, during observation of similar actions, mirror neurons in inferior parietal lobe (IPL), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and ventral premotor cortex, have been shown to respond differentially depending solely on the goal of the action (Fogassi et al.…”