scholarly journals Predictive coding account of action perception: Evidence from effective connectivity in the Action Observation Network

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Burcu A. Urgen ◽  
Ayse P. Saygin
Keyword(s):  
Effective Connectivity ◽  
Action Observation ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Predictive Coding ◽  
Causal Modeling ◽  
Action Perception ◽  
Feedback Connection ◽  
Ventral Premotor Cortex ◽  
Action Observation Network ◽  
Observation Network

AbstractVisual perception of actions is supported by a network of brain regions in the occipito-temporal, parietal, and premotor cortex in the primate brain, known as the Action Observation Network (AON). Although there is a growing body of research that characterizes the functional properties of each node of this network, the communication and direction of information flow between the nodes is unclear. According to the predictive coding account of action perception, this network is not a purely feedforward system but has feedback connections through which prediction error signals are communicated between the regions of the AON. In the present study, we investigated the effective connectivity of the AON in an experimental setting where the human subjects’ predictions about the observed agent were violated, using fMRI and Dynamical Causal Modeling (DCM). We specifically examined the influence of the lowest and highest nodes in the AON hierarchy, pSTS and ventral premotor cortex, respectively, on the middle node, inferior parietal cortex during prediction violation. Our DCM results suggest that the influence on the inferior parietal node is through a feedback connection from ventral premotor cortex during perception of actions that violate people’s predictions.

scholarly journals Largely shared neural codes for biological and nonbiological observed movements but not for executed actions in monkey premotor areas

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davide Albertini ◽  
Marco Lanzilotto ◽  
Monica Maranesi ◽  
Luca Bonini
Keyword(s):  
Mirror Neurons ◽  
Action Observation ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Large Network ◽  
Neuronal Responses ◽  
Neural Codes ◽  
Action Observation Network ◽  
Observation Network ◽  
Premotor Areas

The neural processing of others' observed actions recruits a large network of brain regions (the action observation network, AON), in which frontal motor areas are thought to play a crucial role. Since the discovery of mirror neurons (MNs) in the ventral premotor cortex, it has been assumed that their activation was conditional upon the presentation of biological rather than nonbiological motion stimuli, supporting a form of direct visuomotor matching. Nonetheless, nonbiological observed movements have rarely been used as control stimuli to evaluate visual specificity, thereby leaving the issue of similarity among neural codes for executed actions and biological or nonbiological observed movements unresolved. Here, we addressed this issue by recording from two nodes of the AON that are attracting increasing interest, namely the ventro-rostral part of the dorsal premotor area F2 and the mesial pre-supplementary motor area F6 of macaques while they 1) executed a reaching-grasping task, 2) observed an experimenter performing the task, and 3) observed a nonbiological effector moving in the same context. Our findings revealed stronger neuronal responses to the observation of biological than nonbiological movement, but biological and nonbiological visual stimuli produced highly similar neural dynamics and relied on largely shared neural codes, which in turn remarkably differed from those associated with executed actions. These results indicate that, in highly familiar contexts, visuo-motor remapping processes in premotor areas hosting MNs are more complex and flexible than predicted by a direct visuomotor matching hypothesis.

scholarly journals Subjective understanding of actions and emotions involves the interplay of the semantic and action observation networks in the brain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minye Zhan ◽  
Rainer Wilhelm Goebel ◽  
Beatrice de Gelder
Keyword(s):  
Action Observation ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Emotion Understanding ◽  
Action Observation Network ◽  
Observation Network ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Subjective Reports ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Left Middle ◽  
7T Fmri

How we subjectively generate an understanding of other people's bodily actions and emotions is not well understood. In this 7T fMRI study, we examined the representational geometry of bodily action- and emotion-understanding by mapping individual subjective reports with word embeddings, besides using conventional univariate/multivariate analyses with predefined categories. Dimensionality reduction revealed that the representations for perceived action and emotion were high dimensional, each correlated to but were not reducible to the predefined action and emotion categories. With searchlight representational similarity analysis, we found the left middle superior temporal sulcus and left dorsal premotor cortex corresponded to the subjective action and emotion representations. Furthermore using task-residual functional connectivity and hierarchical clustering, we found that areas in the action observation network and the semantic/default-mode network were functionally connected to these two seed regions and showed similar representations. Our study provides direct evidence that both networks were concurrently involved in subjective action and emotion understanding.

scholarly journals A Role for the Action Observation Network in Apraxia After Stroke

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gloria Pizzamiglio ◽  
Zuo Zhang ◽  
James Kolasinski ◽  
Jane M. Riddoch ◽  
Richard E. Passingham ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Action Observation ◽  
Action Observation Network ◽  
Observation Network

scholarly journals The left ventral premotor cortex is involved in hand shaping for intransitive gestures: evidence from a two-person imitation experiment

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. 181356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arran T. Reader ◽  
Nicholas P. Holmes
Keyword(s):  
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Action Observation ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Control Site ◽  
Movement Speed ◽  
Hand Shaping ◽  
Ventral Premotor Cortex ◽  
Action Imitation ◽  
Control Research

The ventral premotor cortex (PMv) is involved in grasping and object manipulation, while the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) has been suggested to play a role in reaching and action selection. These areas have also been associated with action imitation, but their relative roles in different types of action imitation are unclear. We examined the role of the left PMv and PMd in meaningful and meaningless action imitation by using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Participants imitated meaningful and meaningless actions performed by a confederate actor while both individuals were motion-tracked. rTMS was applied over the left PMv, left PMd or a vertex control site during action observation or imitation. Digit velocity was significantly greater following stimulation over the PMv during imitation compared with stimulation over the PMv during observation, regardless of action meaning. Similar effects were not observed over the PMd or vertex. In addition, stimulation over the PMv increased finger movement speed in a (non-imitative) finger–thumb opposition task. We suggest that claims regarding the role of the PMv in object-directed hand shaping may stem from the prevalence of object-directed designs in motor control research. Our results indicate that the PMv may have a broader role in ‘target-directed’ hand shaping, whereby different areas of the hand are considered targets to act upon during intransitive gesturing.

Increased Facilitatory Connectivity from the Pre-SMA to the Left Dorsal Premotor Cortex during Pseudoword Repetition

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 580-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gesa Hartwigsen ◽  
Dorothee Saur ◽  
Cathy J. Price ◽  
Annette Baumgaertner ◽  
Stephan Ulmer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Production ◽  
Diffusion Tensor ◽  
Effective Connectivity ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Causal Modeling ◽  
Dorsal Premotor Cortex ◽  
Functional Connection ◽  
Word Repetition ◽  
Specific Increase ◽  
Premotor Areas

Previous studies have demonstrated that the repetition of pseudowords engages a network of premotor areas for articulatory planning and articulation. However, it remains unclear how these premotor areas interact and drive one another during speech production. We used fMRI with dynamic causal modeling to investigate effective connectivity between premotor areas during overt repetition of words and pseudowords presented in both the auditory and visual modalities. Regions involved in phonological aspects of language production were identified as those where regional increases in the BOLD signal were common to repetition in both modalities. We thus obtained three seed regions: the bilateral pre-SMA, left dorsal premotor cortex (PMd), and left ventral premotor cortex that were used to test 63 different models of effective connectivity in the premotor network for pseudoword relative to word repetition. The optimal model was identified with Bayesian model selection and reflected a network with driving input to pre-SMA and an increase in facilitatory drive from pre-SMA to PMd during repetition of pseudowords. The task-specific increase in effective connectivity from pre-SMA to left PMd suggests that the pre-SMA plays a supervisory role in the generation and subsequent sequencing of motor plans. Diffusion tensor imaging-based fiber tracking in another group of healthy volunteers showed that the functional connection between both regions is underpinned by a direct cortico-cortical anatomical connection.

Activity in the action observation network enhances emotion regulation during observation of risk-taking: an fMRI study

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miyuki Tamura ◽  
Yoshiya Moriguchi ◽  
Shigekazu Higuchi ◽  
Akiko Hida ◽  
Minori Enomoto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Action Observation ◽  
Action Observation Network ◽  
Observation Network ◽  
Fmri Study

scholarly journals Development of the action observation network during early adolescence: a longitudinal study

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Shaw ◽  
Marie-Helene Grosbras ◽  
Gabriel Leonard ◽  
G. Bruce Pike ◽  
Tomáš Paus
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Early Adolescence ◽  
Action Observation ◽  
Action Observation Network ◽  
Observation Network

scholarly journals Object Presence Modulates Activity within the Somatosensory Component of the Action Observation Network

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 668-679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Turella ◽  
Federico Tubaldi ◽  
Michael Erb ◽  
Wolfgang Grodd ◽  
Umberto Castiello
Keyword(s):  
Action Observation ◽  
Action Observation Network ◽  
Observation Network
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document