Understanding 'what' others do: mirror mechanisms play a crucial role in action perception.

Neurophysiological and imaging studies suggest that the inferior frontal cortex (IFC) implements a mechanism that matches perceived actions to one's motor representation of similar actions (mirror mechanism) and recent lesion studies have also established that IFC is critical for action perception. However, to date causative evidence that action perception requires activation within the same populations of IFC neurons involved in action execution is lacking. In this issue, Cattaneo and colleagues provide the first direct evidence that mirror mechanisms in IFC influence action perception. We discuss the implications of these findings for the understanding of the functional role of mirror mechanisms.

[1]  Karl J. Friston,et al.  Predictive coding: an account of the mirror neuron system , 2007, Cognitive Processing.

[2]  M. Candidi,et al.  Representation of body identity and body actions in extrastriate body area and ventral premotor cortex , 2007, Nature Neuroscience.

[3]  C. Urgesi,et al.  Simulating the future of actions in the human corticospinal system. , 2010, Cerebral cortex.

[4]  G. Rizzolatti,et al.  The mirror-neuron system. , 2004, Annual review of neuroscience.

[5]  C. Keysers,et al.  Evidence for mirror systems in emotions , 2009, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[6]  Salvatore Maria Aglioti,et al.  Empathy for pain and touch in the human somatosensory cortex. , 2007, Cerebral cortex.

[7]  Antonia F. de C. Hamilton,et al.  Action Understanding Requires the Left Inferior Frontal Cortex , 2006, Current Biology.

[8]  G. Rizzolatti,et al.  A unifying view of the basis of social cognition , 2004, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[9]  G. Rizzolatti,et al.  The functional role of the parieto-frontal mirror circuit: interpretations and misinterpretations , 2010, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[10]  Frank Van Overwalle,et al.  Understanding others' actions and goals by mirror and mentalizing systems: A meta-analysis , 2009, NeuroImage.

[11]  J. Schwarzbach,et al.  State-dependent TMS reveals a hierarchical representation of observed acts in the temporal, parietal, and premotor cortices. , 2010, Cerebral cortex.

[12]  C. Urgesi,et al.  The Neural Basis of Body Form and Body Action Agnosia , 2008, Neuron.

[13]  HighWire Press.  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London , 1781, The London Medical Journal.

[14]  J. Silvanto,et al.  A novel approach for enhancing the functional specificity of TMS: Revealing the properties of distinct neural populations within the stimulated region , 2008, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[15]  Christian Keysers,et al.  Somatosensation in social perception , 2010, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[16]  Salvatore Maria Aglioti,et al.  The Sound of Actions in Apraxia , 2008, Current Biology.

[17]  G. Knoblich,et al.  The case for motor involvement in perceiving conspecifics. , 2005, Psychological bulletin.

[18]  Nadia Bolognini,et al.  Somatic and Motor Components of Action Simulation , 2007, Current Biology.

[19]  Karl J. Friston,et al.  Evidence of Mirror Neurons in Human Inferior Frontal Gyrus , 2009, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[20]  Alice C. Roy,et al.  Encoding of human action in Broca's area. , 2009, Brain : a journal of neurology.

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

[22]  J. F. Prather,et al.  Precise auditory–vocal mirroring in neurons for learned vocal communication , 2008, Nature.

[23]  Christian Keysers,et al.  Expanding the mirror: vicarious activity for actions, emotions, and sensations , 2009, Current Opinion in Neurobiology.

[24]  D. Heeger,et al.  Normal Movement Selectivity in Autism , 2010, Neuron.

[25]  S. Aglioti,et al.  Neural Underpinnings of Gesture Discrimination in Patients with Limb Apraxia , 2008, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[26]  W. Prinz.  Perception and Action Planning , 1997 .

[27]  Salvatore Maria Aglioti,et al.  The pain of a model in the personality of an onlooker: Influence of state-reactivity and personality traits on embodied empathy for pain , 2009, NeuroImage.

[28]  Arne D. Ekstrom,et al.  Single-Neuron Responses in Humans during Execution and Observation of Actions , 2010, Current Biology.