Decoding grip type and action goal during the observation of reaching-grasping actions: A multivariate fMRI study

Errante, Antonino; Ziccarelli, Settimio; Mingolla, Gloria P.; Fogassi, Leonardo

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118511

Cited by 13 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 93 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The MVPA results also indicate a high-level accuracy ($80%) in decoding between PLDs and fully visible actions in SPL and in PMd. This is not surprising because, as previously described, both the dorsal and ventral parietal and premotor areas are involved in the processing of reaching but also of some features of the observed grasping, such as specific grip configuration (Errante et al, 2021;Errante & Fogassi, 2019). Here, however, the decoding accuracy in SPL and PMd could not be explained only by differences in reaching movement features or grip configuration because both PLDs and fully visible actions were matched for these characteristics.…”

Section: Differential Eaon Contribution In the Processing Of Observed...supporting

confidence: 83%

“…The activation of IPL and PMv is in line with the results of a large body of studies on action observation of fully visible stimuli (Caspers et al, 2010 ; Hardwick et al, 2018 ), thus suggesting the involvement of a common motor resonance mechanism in both PLDs and fully visible grasping stimuli. These regions can be involved in coding action goal and specific aspects of performed acts, for example, grip type and action outcome (Binkofski et al, 1999 ; Errante et al, 2021 ; Grafton & Hamilton, 2007 ). The activation also involves areas within the so‐called “dorsal circuit” such as PMd, SPL, and SPOC (Cavina‐Pratesi et al, 2010 ; Filimon et al, 2007 ; Gallivan et al, 2009 ; Gazzola & Keysers, 2009 ), usually considered as involved in the observation, as well as in the execution of reaching motor acts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Noteworthy, in the present study, also the ROI analysis reveals that activation of areas within the dorsal circuit was higher during observation of grasping actions as compared to the box control condition, although in this case the stimulus was moving with the same direction and mean velocity, thus reaching the same portion of space of the PLDs hand. Therefore, the involvement of dorsal areas could reflect the processing of other features of observed grasping acts, such as hand/finger posture for grip configuration and the desired end state of an action, very likely as during the observation of fully visible grasping (Errante et al, 2021 ; Majdandzic et al, 2009 ). A similar activation pattern, even though more left‐lateralized, was observed when contrasting fully visible grasping experimental condition and its controls.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within the eAON, there are parietal and frontal areas crucial for generating in the observer an internal motor resonance with the observed action (Rizzolatti et al, 2014 ). Some of these areas have also been proposed to take part in the elaboration of additional features of the observed actions (Kemmerer, 2021 ) including kinematics (Filimon et al, 2007 ; Koul et al, 2018 ), type of grip used to achieve the final action goal (Errante et al, 2021 ; Grafton & Hamilton, 2007 ), and contextual information (Amoruso et al, 2016 ; Iacoboni et al, 2005 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Decoding point‐light displays and fully visible hand grasping actions within the action observation network

Ziccarelli

Errante

Fogassi

2022

Human Brain Mapping

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Action observation typically recruits visual areas and dorsal and ventral sectors of the parietal and premotor cortex. This network has been collectively termed as extended action observation network (eAON). Within this network, the elaboration of kinematic aspects of biological motion is crucial. Previous studies investigated these aspects by presenting subjects with point‐light displays (PLDs) videos of whole‐body movements, showing the recruitment of some of the eAON areas. However, studies focused on cortical activation during observation of PLDs grasping actions are lacking. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we assessed the activation of eAON in healthy participants during the observation of both PLDs and fully visible hand grasping actions, excluding confounding effects due to low‐level visual features, motion, and context. Results showed that the observation of PLDs grasping stimuli elicited a bilateral activation of the eAON. Region of interest analyses performed on visual and sensorimotor areas showed no significant differences in signal intensity between PLDs and fully visible experimental conditions, indicating that both conditions evoked a similar motor resonance mechanism. Multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) revealed significant decoding of PLDs and fully visible grasping observation conditions in occipital, parietal, and premotor areas belonging to eAON. Data show that kinematic features conveyed by PLDs stimuli are sufficient to elicit a complete action representation, suggesting that these features can be disentangled within the eAON from the features usually characterizing fully visible actions. PLDs stimuli could be useful in assessing which areas are recruited, when only kinematic cues are available, for action recognition, imitation, and motor learning.

show abstract

Section: Differential Eaon Contribution In the Processing Of Observed...supporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Decoding point‐light displays and fully visible hand grasping actions within the action observation network

Ziccarelli

Errante

Fogassi

2022

Human Brain Mapping

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This interpretation may be criticised as grasping and talking may be considered the 'what' an agent is doing. It is important to note that while others gaze contributes to action prediction abilities [52,53], action observation studies typically focus the observer's attention on the actor's upper limb without displaying the actor's gaze and face [54][55][56][57][58]. Studying the temporal order of action is a relatively new area of inquiry [59], which one day may refine the criteria defining the 'what' and the 'why' of the observed action.…”

Section: Is Predicting Action From Gaze Equivalent To Intention Reading?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Body Form Modulates the Prediction of Human and Artificial Behaviour from Gaze Observation

Scandola

Cross

Caruana

et al. 2023

Int J of Soc Robotics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The future of human–robot collaboration relies on people’s ability to understand and predict robots' actions. The machine-like appearance of robots, as well as contextual information, may influence people’s ability to anticipate the behaviour of robots. We conducted six separate experiments to investigate how spatial cues and task instructions modulate people’s ability to understand what a robot is doing. Participants observed goal-directed and non-goal directed gaze shifts made by human and robot agents, as well as directional cues displayed by a triangle. We report that biasing an observer's attention, by showing just one object an agent can interact with, can improve people’s ability to understand what humanoid robots will do. Crucially, this cue had no impact on people’s ability to predict the upcoming behaviour of the triangle. Moreover, task instructions that focus on the visual and motor consequences of the observed gaze were found to influence mentalising abilities. We suggest that the human-like shape of an agent and its physical capabilities facilitate the prediction of an upcoming action. The reported findings expand current models of gaze perception and may have important implications for human–human and human–robot collaboration.

show abstract

The widespread action observation/execution matching system for facial expression processing

Sato

Kochiyama²,

Yoshikawa

2023

Human Brain Mapping

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Observing and understanding others' emotional facial expressions, possibly through motor synchronization, plays a primary role in face‐to‐face communication. To understand the underlying neural mechanisms, previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies investigated brain regions that are involved in both the observation/execution of emotional facial expressions and found that the neocortical motor regions constituting the action observation/execution matching system or mirror neuron system were active. However, it remains unclear (1) whether other brain regions in the limbic, cerebellum, and brainstem regions could be also involved in the observation/execution matching system for processing facial expressions, and (2) if so, whether these regions could constitute a functional network. To investigate these issues, we performed fMRI while participants observed dynamic facial expressions of anger and happiness and while they executed facial muscle activity associated with angry and happy facial expressions. Conjunction analyses revealed that, in addition to neocortical regions (i.e., the right ventral premotor cortex and right supplementary motor area), bilateral amygdala, right basal ganglia, bilateral cerebellum, and right facial nerve nucleus were activated during both the observation/execution tasks. Group independent component analysis revealed that a functional network component involving the aforementioned regions were activated during both observation/execution tasks. The data suggest that the motor synchronization of emotional facial expressions involves a widespread observation/execution matching network encompassing the neocortex, limbic system, basal ganglia, cerebellum, and brainstem.

show abstract

Decoding grip type and action goal during the observation of reaching-grasping actions: A multivariate fMRI study

Cited by 13 publications

References 93 publications

Decoding point‐light displays and fully visible hand grasping actions within the action observation network

Decoding point‐light displays and fully visible hand grasping actions within the action observation network

Body Form Modulates the Prediction of Human and Artificial Behaviour from Gaze Observation

The widespread action observation/execution matching system for facial expression processing

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About