Mapping the flow of information within the putative mirror neuron system during gesture observation

Marleen B. Schippers*, Christian Keysers

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

    87 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The putative mirror neuron system may either function as a strict feed-forward system or as a dynamic control system. A strict feed-forward system would predict that action observation leads to a predominantly temporal -> parietal -> premotor flow of information in which a visual representation is transformed into motor-programs which contribute to action understanding. Instead, a dynamic feedback control system would predict that the reverse direction of information flow predominates because of a combination of inhibitory forward and excitatory inverse models. Here we test which of these conflicting predictions best matches the information flow within the putative mirror neuron system (pMNS) and between the pMNS and the rest of the brain during the observation of comparatively long naturalistic stretches of communicative gestures. We used Granger causality to test the dominant direction of influence. Our results fit the predictions of the dynamic feedback control system: we found predominantly an information flow within the pMNS from premotor to parietal and middle temporal cortices. This is more pronounced during an active guessing task than while passively reviewing the same gestures. In particular, the ventral premotor cortex sends significantly more information to other pMNS areas than it receives during active guessing than during passive observation. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)37-44
    Number of pages8
    JournalNeuroimage
    Volume57
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1-Jul-2011

    Keywords

    • Granger causality
    • Putative mirror neuron system
    • Dynamic control system
    • TEMPORAL POLYSENSORY AREA
    • SOCIAL COGNITION
    • GRANGER CAUSALITY
    • JOINT ACTION
    • ACTION RECOGNITION
    • SENSITIVE CELLS
    • PREMOTOR CORTEX
    • FMRI DATA
    • BRAIN
    • SELF

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