Imitative response tendencies in patients with frontal brain lesions.

It is widely accepted that patients with frontal lesions have problems inhibiting automatic response tendencies. Whereas inhibition deficits of overlearned responses have been extensively investigated using interference tasks like the Stroop task (J. R. Stroop, 1935), it is controversial whether patients with frontal brain lesions also have problems inhibiting imitative responses. Using an interference paradigm, the present study investigated imitative response tendencies in patients with frontal lesions. In addition, it tested whether patients deficient in the inhibition of imitative responses correspondingly have problems inhibiting overlearned responses. It was found that the group with frontal lesions displayed significantly stronger imitative response tendencies than the group with nonfrontal lesions. Furthermore, it was shown that the inhibition of imitative responses is functionally unrelated to Stroop interference.

[1]  E. Procyk,et al.  Brain activity during observation of actions. Influence of action content and subject's strategy. , 1997, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[2]  J. Stroop.  Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. , 1992 .

[3]  G. Rizzolatti,et al.  Action recognition in the premotor cortex. , 1996, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[4]  G Aschersleben,et al.  Correspondence effects with manual gestures and postures: a study of imitation. , 2000, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[5]  T. Chartrand,et al.  The chameleon effect: the perception-behavior link and social interaction. , 1999, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[6]  Y. Miyashita,et al.  Common inhibitory mechanism in human inferior prefrontal cortex revealed by event-related functional MRI. , 1999, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[7]  B Jonas,et al.  Wisconsin Card Sorting Test Performance Based on Location and Size of Neuroanatomical Lesion in Vietnam Veterans with Penetrating Head Injury , 1990, Perceptual and motor skills.

[8]  A. Luria.  Higher Cortical Functions in Man , 1980, Springer US.

[9]  Jordan Grafman,et al.  The role of prefrontal regions in the Stroop task , 1995, Neuropsychologia.

[10]  G. Rizzolatti,et al.  Motor facilitation during action observation: a magnetic stimulation study. , 1995, Journal of neurophysiology.

[11]  J. R. Simon,et al.  Auditory S-R compatibility: the effect of an irrelevant cue on information processing. , 1967, The Journal of applied psychology.

[12]  M. Mountain,et al.  Wisconsin card sorting test as a measure of frontal pathology: A review , 1993 .

[13]  J. Mazziotta,et al.  Cortical mechanisms of human imitation. , 1999, Science.

[14]  H S Pennypacker,et al.  On Behavioral Analysis , 1981, The Behavior analyst.

[15]  Marcel Brass,et al.  The Inhibition of Imitative Response Tendencies , 2001, NeuroImage.

[16]  R. Hari,et al.  Temporal dynamics of cortical representation for action. , 2000, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[17]  E. Stein,et al.  Right hemispheric dominance of inhibitory control: an event-related functional MRI study. , 1999, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[18]  K. Werheid,et al.  Digit Ordering Test: Clinical, Psychometric, and Experimental Evaluation of a Verbal Working Memory Test , 2000, The Clinical neuropsychologist.

[19]  D. A. Grant,et al.  A behavioral analysis of degree of reinforcement and ease of shifting to new responses in a Weigl-type card-sorting problem. , 1948, Journal of experimental psychology.

[20]  W. Prinz,et al.  Compatibility between Observed and Executed Finger Movements: Comparing Symbolic, Spatial, and Imitative Cues , 2000, Brain and Cognition.

[21]  J. Decety,et al.  The effects of learning and intention on the neural network involved in the perception of meaningless actions. , 1999, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[22]  D Yves von Cramon,et al.  PII: S0887-6177(01)00134-2 , 2002 .

[23]  H. Damasio,et al.  Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance as a measure of frontal lobe damage. , 1991, Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology.

[24]  G. Rizzolatti,et al.  Neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the understanding and imitation of action , 2001, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[25]  E. Renzi,et al.  Imitation and utilisation behaviour. , 1996, Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry.

[26]  G. Rizzolatti,et al.  Understanding motor events: a neurophysiological study , 2004, Experimental Brain Research.

[27]  H. Nelson.  A Modified Card Sorting Test Sensitive to Frontal Lobe Defects , 1976, Cortex.

[28]  B. Pillon,et al.  Human autonomy and the frontal lobes. Part I: Imitation and utilization behavior: A neuropsychological study of 75 patients , 1986, Annals of neurology.

[29]  W. Prinz,et al.  Movement observation affects movement execution in a simple response task. , 2001, Acta psychologica.