When pliers become fingers in the monkey motor system

Umiltà, Maria Alessandra; Escola, L.; Intskirveli, Irakli; Grammont, Franck; Rochat, Magali Jane; Caruana, Fausto; Jezzini, Ahmad; Gallese, Vittorio; Rizzolatti, Giacomo

doi:10.1073/pnas.0705985105

Cited by 332 publications

(287 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…It has been demonstrated that neurons in areas of the monkey parietal and premotor cortices undergo changes as a consequence of tool use [16,32,33]. In one study, in which monkeys were trained to use different tools to grasp food morsels, it has been found that motor neurons of the ventral premotor cortex, normally active during hand grasping, also fired when the monkeys grasped the food with the tools, regardless of the exact movement sequence required for the purpose [16].…”

Section: Discussion (A) Individual Learning and Understanding Of The mentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual and social learning processes involved in the acquisition and generalization of tool use in macaques

Macellini

Maranesi

Bonini

et al. 2012

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Macaques can efficiently use several tools, but their capacity to discriminate the relevant physical features of a tool and the social factors contributing to their acquisition are still poorly explored. In a series of studies, we investigated macaques' ability to generalize the use of a stick as a tool to new objects having different physical features (study 1), or to new contexts, requiring them to adapt the previously learned motor strategy (study 2). We then assessed whether the observation of a skilled model might facilitate tool-use learning by naive observer monkeys (study 3). Results of study 1 and study 2 showed that monkeys trained to use a tool generalize this ability to tools of different shape and length, and learn to adapt their motor strategy to a new task. Study 3 demonstrated that observing a skilled model increases the observers' manipulations of a stick, thus facilitating the individual discovery of the relevant properties of this object as a tool. These findings support the view that in macaques, the motor system can be modified through tool use and that it has a limited capacity to adjust the learnt motor skills to a new context. Social factors, although important to facilitate the interaction with tools, are not crucial for tool-use learning.

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Section: Discussion (A) Individual Learning and Understanding Of The mentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual and social learning processes involved in the acquisition and generalization of tool use in macaques

Macellini

Maranesi

Bonini

et al. 2012

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…Single-cell studies in monkeys showed that neurons in F5 and PFG can code different aspects of an action: the type of grip and the overall goal of the action, transcending the motor specifics [17,[41][42][43][44][45]. Such responses have been interpreted in terms of how the motor cortex is hierarchically organized in order to allow an agent to visually guide movements in space to reach [19,[46][47][48].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Frequency and topography in monkey electroencephalogram during action observation: possible neural correlates of the mirror neuron system

Coudé

Vanderwert

Thorpe

et al. 2014

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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The observation of actions executed by others results in desynchronization of electroencephalogram (EEG) in the alpha and beta frequency bands recorded from the central regions in humans. On the other hand, mirror neurons, which are thought to be responsible for this effect, have been studied only in macaque monkeys, using single-cell recordings. Here, as a first step in a research programme aimed at understanding the parallels between human and monkey mirror neuron systems (MNS), we recorded EEG from the scalp of two monkeys during action observation. The monkeys were trained to fixate on the face of a human agent and subsequently to fixate on a target upon which the agent performed a grasping action. We found that action observation produced desynchronization in the 19-25 Hz band that was strongest over anterior and central electrodes. These results are in line with human data showing that specific frequency bands within the power spectrum of the ongoing EEG may be modulated by observation of actions and therefore might be a specific marker of MNS activity.

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“…The idea that fronto‐parietal mirror neurons code the goal of an action rather than the action's low‐level kinematics is further supported by a study of Umilta and colleges, showing that different actions having the same goal evoke similar neural response (Umilta et al. 2008). Mirror neurons have also been shown to respond not only to visual input but also to auditory cues associated with motor acts [e.g., the sound of breaking a peanut (Kohler et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Power modulation of electroencephalogram mu and beta frequency depends on perceived level of observed actions

Simon

Mukamel

2016

Brain and Behavior

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IntroductionThe ability to understand actions and intentions of others is of great importance to social relationships and is associated with the mirror neuron system of the human brain. Whether conscious perception of specific actions is necessary to trigger activity in this system, or alternatively whether this response is independent of conscious perception is not known.MethodsWe addressed this issue by rendering videos of right hand movements invisible to conscious perception, and measuring electroencephalogram (EEG) power suppression in the mu (8–13 Hz) and beta (15–25 Hz) range as index corresponding to the magnitude of mirror neuron activity.ResultsIn the beta range over bilateral sensorimotor sites, we find that suppression indices follow the reported perceptual level of subjects with stronger suppression for consciously perceived trials. Furthermore, in the nonperceived trials, oscillation power is significantly suppressed relative to baseline. In the low mu range (8–10 Hz), oscillation power over the left sensorimotor site is significantly more suppressed in the consciously perceived versus nonperceived trials.ConclusionsOur data suggest that the intensity of mirror system responses during action observation decreases with the observers' perception level yet remains significant during observation of invisible actions. Such subliminal activity could help explain phenomena such as covert imitation.

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When pliers become fingers in the monkey motor system

Cited by 332 publications

References 24 publications

Individual and social learning processes involved in the acquisition and generalization of tool use in macaques

Individual and social learning processes involved in the acquisition and generalization of tool use in macaques

Frequency and topography in monkey electroencephalogram during action observation: possible neural correlates of the mirror neuron system

Power modulation of electroencephalogram mu and beta frequency depends on perceived level of observed actions

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