Modulated Activation of the Human SI and SII Cortices during Observation of Hand Actions

Avikainen, Sari; Forss, Nina; Hari, Riitta

doi:10.1006/nimg.2001.1029

Cited by 173 publications

(108 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…However, when the observed stimuli are haptic (involving action in addition to touch), also area 3b can be vicariously affected, as has been shown previously in association with observed manipulatory finger movements [Avikainen et al, 2002], and, in the current study, with the haptic contents of a movie.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…Such automated, vicarious activations contribute to our understanding of the mental and bodily states of other people and facilitate social interaction [for reviews, see, e.g., Frith and Frith, 2007; Hari and Kujala, 2009]. Although the most prominent vicarious activations have been demonstrated in pre‐motor cortical areas [for a review, see, e.g., Rizzolatti and Craighero, 2004], also somatosensory cortices are engaged during observation of actions [e.g., Avikainen et al, 2002; Möttönen et al, 2005; Oouchida et al, 2004; Rossi et al, 2002] or while seeing other people being touched [e.g., Blakemore et al, 2005; Ebisch et al, 2008; Keysers et al, 2004; Martínez‐Jauand et al, 2012; Meyer et al, 2011; Pihko et al, 2010; Schaefer et al, 2009]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Haptic contents of a movie dynamically engage the spectator's sensorimotor cortex

Lankinen

Smeds

Tikka

et al. 2016

Human Brain Mapping

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Observation of another person's actions and feelings activates brain areas that support similar functions in the observer, thereby facilitating inferences about the other's mental and bodily states. In real life, events eliciting this kind of vicarious brain activations are intermingled with other complex, ever‐changing stimuli in the environment. One practical approach to study the neural underpinnings of real‐life vicarious perception is to image brain activity during movie viewing. Here the goal was to find out how observed haptic events in a silent movie would affect the spectator's sensorimotor cortex. The functional state of the sensorimotor cortex was monitored by analyzing, in 16 healthy subjects, magnetoencephalographic (MEG) responses to tactile finger stimuli that were presented once per second throughout the session. Using canonical correlation analysis and spatial filtering, consistent single‐trial responses across subjects were uncovered, and their waveform changes throughout the movie were quantified. The long‐latency (85–175 ms) parts of the responses were modulated in concordance with the participants’ average moment‐by‐moment ratings of own engagement in the haptic content of the movie (correlation r = 0.49; ratings collected after the MEG session). The results, obtained by using novel signal‐analysis approaches, demonstrate that the functional state of the human sensorimotor cortex fluctuates in a fine‐grained manner even during passive observation of temporally varying haptic events. Hum Brain Mapp 37:4061–4068, 2016. © 2016 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Haptic contents of a movie dynamically engage the spectator's sensorimotor cortex

Lankinen

Smeds

Tikka

et al. 2016

Human Brain Mapping

Self Cite

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“…To avoid habituation, different versions of similar video-clips were used for each observation condition. To avoid activation of the motor mirror system due to the action observation , which may also modulate the activity of somatosensory cortices (Avikainen et al, 2002); in none of the videos was the holder of the syringe or the Q-tip visible.…”

Section: Visual Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

Synchronous with Your Feelings: Sensorimotor γ Band and Empathy for Pain

Betti¹,

Zappasodi²,

Rossini³

et al. 2009

J. Neurosci.

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Neuroscience studies on the social sharing of observed or imagined pain focused on whether empathic pain resonance is linked to affective or sensory nodes of the pain matrix. However, empathy, like other complex cognitive processes, is inherently linked to the activation of functional networks rather than of separate brain areas. Here, we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to explore the relationship between empathy and functional coupling of neuronal activity in primary somatosensory (SI) and motor (MI) cortices. MEG recording was performed while healthy participants observed movie-clips depicting the static hand of a stranger model, the same hand deeply penetrated by a needle, or gently touched by a Q-tip. Subjects were asked to rate the movie-derived sensations attributed to self or to the model. For each type of clip observation, we analyzed spectral power and coherence values in ␣, ␤, and ␥ frequency bands. While spectral power indexes separate neural activity in SI and MI, coherence values index functional cross-talk between these two areas. No power changes of SI or MI sources were induced by observation conditions in any of the frequency bands. Crucially, ␥-band coherence values were significantly higher during needle-in-hand than touch and static hand observation and correlated with self-and otherreferred pain ratings derived from needle-in-hand movies observation. Thus, observation of others' pain increases neuronal synchronization and cross-talk between the onlookers' sensory and motor cortices, indicating that empathic resonance relies upon the activity of functional networks more than of single areas.

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“…This has been widely demonstrated by seminal experiments in the motor domain showing that the observation of actions performed by other individuals activates frontal and parietal cortical areas that are typically involved in one's own action planning and execution, the so called ''mirror neuron system'' Avikainen et al, 2002;Buccino et al, 2004;di Pellegrino et al, 1992;Fadiga et al, 1995Fadiga et al, , 2005Gallese et al, 1996;Gazzola et al, 2007a;Hari et al, 1998;Iacoboni et al, 2005;Raos et al, 2004;Rizzolatti and Craighero, 2004;Rizzolatti et al, 1999Rizzolatti et al, , 2001Rossi et al, 2002]. These shared representations for action observation and execution seem to play a pivotal role in the understanding and imitation of action [Rizzolatti et al, 2001] as well as in understanding others' intentions [Iacoboni and Dapretto, 2006;Iacoboni et al, 2005].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Seeing touch in the somatosensory cortex: A TMS study of the visual perception of touch

Bolognini¹,

Rossetti²,

Maravita³

et al. 2011

Human Brain Mapping

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Recent studies suggest the existence of a visuo-tactile mirror system, comprising the primary (SI) and secondary (SII) somatosensory cortices, which matches observed touch with felt touch. Here, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) was used to determine whether SI or SII play a functional role in the visual processing of tactile events. Healthy participants performed a visual discrimination task with tactile stimuli (a finger touching a hand) and a control task (a finger moving without touching). During both tasks, rTMS was applied over either SI or SII, and to the occipital cortex. rTMS over SI selectively reduced subject performance for interpreting whether a contralateral visual tactile stimulus contains a tactile event, whereas SII stimulation impaired visual processing regardless of the tactile component. These findings provide evidence for a multimodal sensory-motor system with mirror properties, where somatic and visual properties of action converge. SI, a cortical area traditionally viewed as modality-specific, is selectively implicated in the visual processing of touch. These results are in line with the existence of a sensory mirror system mediating the embodied simulation concept. Hum Brain Mapp 32:2104-2114,

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Modulated Activation of the Human SI and SII Cortices during Observation of Hand Actions

Cited by 173 publications

References 33 publications

Haptic contents of a movie dynamically engage the spectator's sensorimotor cortex

Haptic contents of a movie dynamically engage the spectator's sensorimotor cortex

Synchronous with Your Feelings: Sensorimotor γ Band and Empathy for Pain

Seeing touch in the somatosensory cortex: A TMS study of the visual perception of touch

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