TY - JOUR ID - 6896 T1 - A PET exploration of the neural mechanisms involved in reciprocal imitation JF - NeuroImage JA - Neuroimage M3 - 11771994 A1 - Decety,J A1 - Chaminade,T A1 - GrŠzes,J A1 - Meltzoff,A N VL - 15 IS - 1 PY - 2002/01// N2 - Imitation is a natural mechanism involving perception-action coupling which plays a central role in the development of understanding that other people, like the self, are mental agents. PET was used to examine the hemodynamic changes occurring in a reciprocal imitation paradigm. Eighteen subjects (a) imitated the actions of the experimenter, (b) had their actions imitated by the experimenter, (c) freely produced actions, or (d) freely produced actions while watching different actions made by the experimenter. In a baseline condition, subjects simply watched the experimenter's actions. Specific increases were detected in the left STS and in the inferior parietal cortex in conditions involving imitation. The left inferior parietal is specifically involved in producing imitation, whereas the right homologous region is more activated when one's own actions are imitated by another person. This pattern of results suggests that these regions play a specific role in distinguishing internally produced actions from those generated by others. KW - Adult KW - Brain Mapping KW - Humans KW - Image Processing, Computer-Assisted KW - Imaging, Three-Dimensional KW - Imitative Behavior KW - Male KW - Motor Activity KW - Parietal Lobe KW - Temporal Lobe KW - Tomography, Emission-Computed SP - 265 EP - 72 SN - 1053-8119 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11771994 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 8365 T1 - Action observation and acquired motor skills: an FMRI study with expert dancers JF - Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y.: 1991) JA - Cereb Cortex M3 - bhi007 A1 - Calvo-Merino,B A1 - Glaser,D E A1 - GrŠzes,J A1 - Passingham,R E A1 - Haggard,P VL - 15 IS - 8 PY - 2005/08// N2 - When we observe someone performing an action, do our brains simulate making that action? Acquired motor skills offer a unique way to test this question, since people differ widely in the actions they have learned to perform. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study differences in brain activity between watching an action that one has learned to do and an action that one has not, in order to assess whether the brain processes of action observation are modulated by the expertise and motor repertoire of the observer. Experts in classical ballet, experts in capoeira and inexpert control subjects viewed videos of ballet or capoeira actions. Comparing the brain activity when dancers watched their own dance style versus the other style therefore reveals the influence of motor expertise on action observation. We found greater bilateral activations in premotor cortex and intraparietal sulcus, right superior parietal lobe and left posterior superior temporal sulcus when expert dancers viewed movements that they had been trained to perform compared to movements they had not. Our results show that this 'mirror system' integrates observed actions of others with an individual's personal motor repertoire, and suggest that the human brain understands actions by motor simulation. KW - Adolescent KW - Adult KW - Analysis of Variance KW - Brain KW - Dancing KW - Humans KW - Life Change Events KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging KW - Male KW - Motor Skills KW - Photic Stimulation SP - 1243 EP - 9 SN - 1047-3211 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15616133 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 13166 T1 - Activations related to "mirror" and "canonical" neurones in the human brain: an fMRI study JF - NeuroImage JA - Neuroimage M3 - 12725768 A1 - GrŠzes,J A1 - Armony,J L A1 - Rowe,J A1 - Passingham,R E VL - 18 IS - 4 PY - 2003/04// N2 - In the macaque monkey ventral premotor cortex (F5), "canonical neurones" are active when the monkey observes an object and when the monkey grasps that object. In the same area, "mirror neurones" fire both when the monkey observes another monkey grasping an object and when the monkey grasps that object. We used event-related fMRI to investigate where in the human brain activation can be found that reflects both canonical and mirror neuronal activity. There was activation in the intraparietal and ventral limbs of the precentral sulcus when subjects observed objects and when they executed movements in response to the objects (canonical neurones). There was activation in the dorsal premotor cortex, the intraparietal cortex, the parietal operculum (SII), and the superior temporal sulcus when subjects observed gestures (mirror neurones). Finally, activations in the ventral premotor cortex and inferior frontal gyrus (area 44) were found when subjects imitated gestures and executed movements in response to objects. We suggest that in the human brain, the ventral limb of the precentral sulcus may form part of the area designated F5 in the macaque monkey. It is possible that area 44 forms an anterior part of F5, though anatomical studies suggest that it may be a transitional area between the premotor and prefrontal cortices. KW - Adult KW - Brain KW - Brain Mapping KW - Hand Strength KW - Humans KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging KW - Male KW - Nerve Net KW - Neurons KW - Photic Stimulation KW - Psychomotor Performance KW - Reference Values KW - Video Recording SP - 928 EP - 37 SN - 1053-8119 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12725768 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 15662 T1 - Affective response to one's own moral violations JF - NeuroImage JA - Neuroimage M3 - S1053-8119(06)00008-5 A1 - Berthoz,S A1 - GrŠzes,J A1 - Armony,J L A1 - Passingham,R E A1 - Dolan,R J VL - 31 IS - 2 PY - 2006/06// N2 - Morality depends on a set of cultural rules that regulate interpersonal behaviour and provide a basis for social cohesion. The interpretation of moral transgressions and their affective consequences depends on whether the action is intentional or accidental, and whether one is the agent of or witness to the action. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate whether the amygdala is involved in judging one's own moral violation of social norms. In this study, participants (n = 12) were asked to make evaluations regarding the degree of inappropriateness of social behaviours described in stories in which they themselves, or someone else, transgressed social norms either intentionally or accidentally. Consistent with our hypothesis, the amygdala was activated when participants considered stories narrating their own intentional transgression of social norms. This result suggests the amygdala is important for affective responsiveness to moral transgressions. KW - Adult KW - Affect KW - Brain KW - Brain Mapping KW - Decision Making KW - Humans KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging KW - Male KW - Morals KW - Reaction Time KW - Reference Values KW - Retrospective Moral Judgment KW - Social Behavior SP - 945 EP - 50 SN - 1053-8119 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16490367 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 6869 T1 - Amygdala activation when one is the target of deceit: did he lie to you or to someone else? JF - NeuroImage JA - Neuroimage M3 - S1053-8119(05)00751-2 A1 - GrŠzes,J A1 - Berthoz,S A1 - Passingham,R E VL - 30 IS - 2 PY - 2006/04/01/ N2 - The ability to figure out whether a person is being honest or deceitful is an important part of social competence. Reactions to deceit may however differ depending on whether one is being deceived oneself or observes a deceitful exchange between others. In the present study, we investigated whether personal involvement influenced the neural responses associated with the detection of deceit. Subjects watched videos of actors lifting a box and judged whether the actors had been misled about the real weight of the box. Personal involvement was manipulated by having the participants themselves among the actors. The critical finding was that there was activity in amygdala and fusiform gyrus only for the condition in which participants observed themselves being deceived. In contrast, the superior temporal sulcus and anterior cingulate cortex were activated irrespective of whether the participants detected that the experimenter had deceived themselves or another. These four brain areas are all interconnected and are part of the discrete neural system subserving social cognition. Our results provide direct evidence, using judgments of deceit in a social context, that the crucial factor for amygdala activation is the involvement of the subjects because they are the target of the deceit. We interpret the activation of the amygdala in this situation as reflecting the greater affective reaction when one is deceived oneself. Our results suggest that when one is personally involved, deceit is taken as a potential threat. KW - Adult KW - Amygdala KW - Behavior KW - Biomechanics KW - Brain Mapping KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Image Processing, Computer-Assisted KW - Lie Detection KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging KW - Male KW - Middle Aged KW - Posture SP - 601 EP - 8 SN - 1053-8119 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16257239 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 5740 T1 - Brain activity during observation of actions. Influence of action content and subject's strategy JF - Brain: A Journal of Neurology JA - Brain M3 - 9365369 A1 - Decety,J A1 - GrŠzes,J A1 - Costes,N A1 - Perani,D A1 - Jeannerod,M A1 - Procyk,E A1 - Grassi,F A1 - Fazio,F VL - 120 ( Pt 10) PY - 1997/10// N2 - PET was used to map brain regions that are associated with the observation of meaningful and meaningless hand actions. Subjects were scanned under four conditions which consisted of visually presented actions. In each of the four experimental conditions, they were instructed to watch the actions with one of two aims: to be able to recognize or to imitate them later. We found that differences in the meaning of the action, irrespective of the strategy used during observation, lead to different patterns of brain activity and clear left/right asymmetries. Meaningful actions strongly engaged the left hemisphere in frontal and temporal regions while meaningless actions involved mainly the right occipitoparietal pathway. Observing with the intent to recognize activated memory-encoding structures. In contrast, observation with the intent to imitate was associated with activation in the regions involved in the planning and in the generation of actions. Thus, the pattern of brain activation during observation of actions is dependent both on the nature of the required executive processing and the type of the extrinsic properties of the action presented. KW - Adult KW - Brain KW - Cognition KW - Cues KW - Functional Laterality KW - Hand KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Memory KW - Movement KW - Psychomotor Performance KW - Tomography, Emission-Computed KW - Visual Perception SP - 1763 EP - 77 SN - 0006-8950 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9365369 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 15571 T1 - Brain mechanisms for inferring deceit in the actions of others JF - The Journal of Neuroscience: The Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience JA - J Neurosci M3 - 15201322 A1 - GrŠzes,Julie A1 - Frith,Chris A1 - Passingham,Richard E VL - 24 IS - 24 PY - 2004/06/16/ N2 - During social interactions, it is important to judge accurately whether a person is honest or deceitful. We often use nonverbal cues to infer whether others are trying to deceive us. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we studied subjects watching videos of actors lifting a box and judged whether or not the actors were trying to deceive them concerning the real weight of the box. When the subjects judged the actions as reflecting deceptive intention, there was activation of the amygdala and rostral anterior cingulate cortex. These areas were not activated when subjects made judgements about the beliefs rather than the intentions of others. We suggest that these activations reflect the observers' judgements of social intentions toward themselves and might reflect an emotional response to being deceived. KW - Adult KW - Brain KW - Brain Mapping KW - Deception KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Judgment KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging KW - Male KW - Video Recording KW - Visual Perception KW - Weight Perception SP - 5500 EP - 5 SN - 1529-2401 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15201322 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 4058 T1 - Cross-cultural validation of the empathy quotient in a French-speaking sample JF - Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. Revue Canadienne De Psychiatrie JA - Can J Psychiatry M3 - 18674405 A1 - Berthoz,Sylvie A1 - Wessa,Michele A1 - Kedia,Gayannee A1 - Wicker,Bruno A1 - GrŠzes,Julie VL - 53 IS - 7 PY - 2008/07// N2 - OBJECTIVE: The Empathy Quotient (EQ) is a self-report that was developed to measure the cognitive and affective aspects of empathy. We further evaluated its validity in 2 studies. METHOD: The psychometric qualities of the French version of the EQ, and its correspondence with 2 other measures of empathy (Interpersonal Reactivity Index and the Empathy Scale of the Impulsiveness-Venturesomeness-Empathy Questionnaire), and with dimensions of the emotional state (depression and anxiety), were evaluated in a sample of 410 students (201 men and 209 women). Second, the clinical validity of the EQ was investigated in participants expected to have dysfunctional empathy. For this purpose, EQ scores of 16 people with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) were collected. RESULTS: The EQ showed satisfying internal, convergent, test-retest and discriminant validity. The confirmatory factorial analyses suggested a 3-factor structure offered a good fit to the data. The women's superiority in empathy was replicated. As expected, the ASD EQ scores were very low. CONCLUSION: This study provides further evidence that the EQ is reliable in this population and should be recommended to estimate empathy problems, notably in individuals with troubled interpersonal interaction patterns. KW - Adult KW - Canada KW - Cross-Cultural Comparison KW - Empathy KW - Factor Analysis, Statistical KW - Female KW - France KW - Humans KW - Language KW - Male KW - Reproducibility of Results SP - 469 EP - 77 SN - 0706-7437 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18674405 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 8500 T1 - Decreased differential activity in the amygdala in response to fearful expressions in Type D personality JF - Neurophysiologie Clinique = Clinical Neurophysiology JA - Neurophysiol Clin M3 - S0987-7053(08)00039-7 A1 - de Gelder,B A1 - van de Riet,W A C A1 - GrŠzes,J A1 - Denollet,J VL - 38 IS - 3 PY - 2008/06// N2 - Recent advances in functional brain imaging offer unique opportunities to explore the neurofunctional basis of tools used to assess personality differences which have proven their clinical usefulness. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, the focus was on the amygdala activation and we investigated whether individual differences in activity of the amygdala following presentation of emotional expressions in the face and the whole body may be systematically related to the presence of Type D (distressed) personality or to its constituting factors, Negative Affectivity (NA) and Social Inhibition (SI). Our results show that the observed difference in amygdala activity between fearful and neutral expressions was present in participants that did not meet the criteria for Type D personality, while this effect was absent in participants that could be classified as Type D personality. Our correlation analyses further showed that the activation in the left amygdala elicited by fearful versus neutral bodily expressions correlated negatively with the Negative Affectivity score. The same pattern was observed for the right amygdala for fearful facial and bodily expressions when contrasted with neutral facial and bodily expressions. KW - Adult KW - Affect KW - Amygdala KW - Depression KW - Facial Expression KW - Fear KW - Humans KW - Inhibition (Psychology) KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging KW - Male KW - Personality Disorders KW - Questionnaires KW - Social Behavior SP - 163 EP - 9 SN - 0987-7053 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18539249 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 15056 T1 - Does perception of biological motion rely on specific brain regions? JF - NeuroImage JA - Neuroimage M3 - 11304074 A1 - GrŠzes,J A1 - Fonlupt,P A1 - Bertenthal,B A1 - Delon-Martin,C A1 - Segebarth,C A1 - Decety,J VL - 13 IS - 5 PY - 2001/05// N2 - Perception of biological motions plays a major adaptive role in identifying, interpreting, and predicting the actions of others. It may therefore be hypothesized that the perception of biological motions is subserved by a specific neural network. Here we used fMRI to verify this hypothesis. In a group of 10 healthy volunteers, we explored the hemodynamic responses to seven types of visual motion displays: drifting random dots, random dot cube, random dot cube with masking elements, upright point-light walker, inverted point-light walker, upright point-light walker display with masking elements, and inverted point-light walker display with masking elements. A gradient in activation was observed in the occipitotemporal junction. The responses to rigid motion were localized posteriorly to those responses elicited by nonrigid motions. Our results demonstrate that in addition to the posterior portion of superior temporal sulcus, the left intraparietal cortex is involved in the perception of nonrigid biological motions. KW - Adult KW - Brain KW - Brain Mapping KW - Dominance, Cerebral KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Image Enhancement KW - Image Processing, Computer-Assisted KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging KW - Male KW - Motion Perception KW - Occipital Lobe KW - Perceptual Masking KW - Reference Values KW - Regional Blood Flow KW - Temporal Lobe KW - Visual Pathways SP - 775 EP - 85 SN - 1053-8119 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11304074 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 4700 T1 - Does visual perception of object afford action? Evidence from a neuroimaging study JF - Neuropsychologia JA - Neuropsychologia M3 - 11640943 A1 - GrŠzes,J A1 - Decety,J VL - 40 IS - 2 PY - 2002/// N2 - Positron emission tomography (PET) was used to explore the neural correlates of a potential involvement of motor representation during the perception of visually presented objects with different tasks. The main result of this study was that the perception of objects, irrespective of the task (judgement of the vertical orientation, motor imagery, and silent generation of the noun or of the corresponding action verb), versus perception of non-objects, was associated with rCBF increases in a common set of cortical regions. The occipito-temporal junction, the inferior parietal lobule, the SMA-proper, the pars triangularis in the inferior frontal gyrus, the dorsal and ventral precentral gyrus were engaged in the left hemisphere. The ipsilateral cerebellum was also involved. These activations are congruent with the idea of an involvement of motor representation already during the perception of object and thus provide neurophysiological evidence that the perception of objects automatically affords actions that can be made toward them. Besides this common set of cortical areas, each task engaged specific regions. KW - Adult KW - Cerebellum KW - Cerebral Cortex KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Motor Skills KW - Semantics KW - Task Performance and Analysis KW - Tomography, Emission-Computed KW - Visual Perception SP - 212 EP - 22 SN - 0028-3932 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11640943 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 8141 T1 - Emotional modulation of visual and motor areas by dynamic body expressions of anger JF - Social Neuroscience JA - Soc Neurosci M3 - 779051174 A1 - Pichon,Swann A1 - de Gelder,Beatrice A1 - Grezes,Julie VL - 3 IS - 3-4 PY - 2008/// N2 - The ability to detect emotional meaning in others' behavior constitutes a central component of social competence. Expressions of anger in particular present salient signals that play a major role in the regulation of social interactions. Investigations of human anger signals have to date used still pictures of facial expressions but so far the neurobiological basis of bodily communication of anger remains largely unknown. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the present study investigated the neural bases involved in perceiving anger signals emanating from the whole body. Our study also investigates what the presence of dynamic information adds to the perception of body expressions of anger. Participants were scanned while viewing stimuli (stills or videos) of angry and neutral whole-body expressions. Whole-body expressions of anger elicit activity in regions including the amygdala and the lateral orbitofrontal cortex, which play a role in the affective evaluation of the stimuli. Importantly, the perception of dynamic body expressions of anger additionally engages the hypothalamus, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, the temporal pole and the premotor cortex, brain regions that are coupled with autonomic reactions and motor responses related to defensive behaviors. SP - 199 EP - 212 SN - 1747-0927 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18979376 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 4078 T1 - Functional anatomy of execution, mental simulation, observation, and verb generation of actions: a meta-analysis JF - Human Brain Mapping JA - Hum Brain Mapp M3 - 11198101 A1 - GrŠzes,J A1 - Decety,J VL - 12 IS - 1 PY - 2001/01// N2 - There is a large body of psychological and neuroimaging experiments that have interpreted their findings in favor of a functional equivalence between action generation, action simulation, action verbalization, and perception of action. On the basis of these data, the concept of shared motor representations has been proposed. Indeed several authors have argued that our capacity to understand other people's behavior and to attribute intention or beliefs to others is rooted in a neural, most likely distributed, execution/observation mechanism. Recent neuroimaging studies have explored the neural network engaged during motor execution, simulation, verbalization, and observation. The focus of this metaanalysis is to evaluate in specific detail to what extent the activated foci elicited by these studies overlap. KW - Brain Mapping KW - Cerebral Cortex KW - Humans KW - Language KW - Mental Processes KW - Speech KW - Verbal Behavior SP - 1 EP - 19 SN - 1065-9471 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11198101 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 9292 T1 - Human and animal sounds influence recognition of body language JF - Brain Research JA - Brain Res M3 - S0006-8993(08)01216-X A1 - Van den Stock,Jan A1 - GrŠzes,Julie A1 - de Gelder,Beatrice PY - 2008/05/26/ N2 - In naturalistic settings emotional events have multiple correlates and are simultaneously perceived by several sensory systems. Recent studies have shown that recognition of facial expressions is biased towards the emotion expressed by a simultaneously presented emotional expression in the voice even if attention is directed to the face only. So far, no study examined whether this phenomenon also applies to whole body expressions, although there is no obvious reason why this crossmodal influence would be specific for faces. Here we investigated whether perception of emotions expressed in whole body movements is influenced by affective information provided by human and by animal vocalizations. Participants were instructed to attend to the action displayed by the body and to categorize the expressed emotion. The results indicate that recognition of body language is biased towards the emotion expressed by the simultaneously presented auditory information, whether it consist of human or of animal sounds. Our results show that a crossmodal influence from auditory to visual emotional information obtains for whole body video images with the facial expression blanked and includes human as well as animal sounds. SN - 0006-8993 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18617158 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 9807 T1 - Inferring false beliefs from the actions of oneself and others: an fMRI study JF - NeuroImage JA - Neuroimage M3 - 14980577 A1 - GrŠzes,J A1 - Frith,C D A1 - Passingham,R E VL - 21 IS - 2 PY - 2004/02// N2 - The ability to make judgments about mental states is critical to social interactions. Simulation theory suggests that the observer covertly mimics the activity of the observed person, leading to shared states of mind between the observer and the person observed. We tested this hypothesis by investigating the neural networks activated while subjects watched videos of themselves and of others lifting a box, and judged the beliefs of the actors about the weight of the box. A parietal premotor circuit was recruited during action perception, and the activity started earlier when making judgments about one's own actions as opposed to those of others. This earlier activity in action-related structures can be explained by simulation theory on the basis that when one observes one's own actions, there is a closer match between the simulated and perceived action than there is when one observes the actions of others. When the observers judged the actions to reflect a false belief, there was activation in the superior temporal sulcus, orbitofrontal, paracingulate cortex and cerebellum. We suggest that this reflects a mismatch between the perceived action and the predicted action's outcomes derived from simulation. KW - Brain Mapping KW - Cerebellum KW - Cerebral Cortex KW - Dominance, Cerebral KW - Female KW - Gyrus Cinguli KW - Humans KW - Image Enhancement KW - Image Processing, Computer-Assisted KW - Imagination KW - Imitative Behavior KW - Lifting KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging KW - Male KW - Neural Pathways KW - Oxygen Consumption KW - Personal Construct Theory KW - Psychomotor Performance KW - Self Concept KW - Social Perception KW - Visual Perception KW - Weight Perception KW - Weight-Bearing SP - 744 EP - 50 SN - 1053-8119 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14980577 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 2983 T1 - Neural mechanisms subserving the perception of human actions JF - Trends in Cognitive Sciences JA - Trends Cogn Sci M3 - 10322473 A1 - Decety, A1 - GrŠzes, VL - 3 IS - 5 PY - 1999/05// N2 - Our ability to generate actions and to recognize actions performed by others is the bedrock of our social life. Behavioral evidence suggests that the processes underlying perception and action might share a common representational framework. That is, observers might understand the actions of another individual in terms of the same neural code that they use to produce the same actions themselves. What neurophysiological evidence, if any, supports such a hypothesis? In this article, brain imaging studies addressing this question are reviewed and examined in the light of the functional segregation of the perceptual mechanisms subtending visual recognition and those used for action. We suggest that there are not yet conclusive arguments for a clear neurophysiological substrate supporting a common coding between perception and action. SP - 172 EP - 178 SN - 1364-6613 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10322473 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 7928 T1 - Objects automatically potentiate action: an fMRI study of implicit processing JF - The European Journal of Neuroscience JA - Eur J Neurosci M3 - 12823480 A1 - GrŠzes,J A1 - Tucker,M A1 - Armony,J A1 - Ellis,R A1 - Passingham,R E VL - 17 IS - 12 PY - 2003/06// N2 - Behavioural data have shown that the perception of an object automatically potentiates motor components (affordances) of possible actions toward that object, irrespective of the subject's intention. We carried out an event-related fMRI study to investigate the influence of the intrinsic properties of an object on motor responses which were either compatible or incompatible with the action that the object affords. The subjects performed power or precision grip responses based on the categorization of objects into natural or man-made. The objects were either 'small' (usually grasped with a precision grip) or 'large' (usually grasped with a power grip). As expected, the motor responses were fastest to objects that afforded the same grip (congruent) and slowest to objects that afforded the other grip (incongruent). Imaging revealed activations which covaried with compatibility in the parietal, dorsal premotor and inferior frontal cortex. We suggest that the greater the difference in reaction times between congruent and incongruent trials, the greater the competition between the action afforded by the object and the action specified by the task, and thus the greater the activation within this network. KW - Adult KW - Brain Mapping KW - Cerebral Cortex KW - Functional Laterality KW - Hand Strength KW - Humans KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging KW - Male KW - Motor Cortex KW - Photic Stimulation KW - Psychomotor Performance KW - Reaction Time KW - Regression Analysis KW - Size Perception KW - Visual Perception SP - 2735 EP - 40 SN - 0953-816X UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12823480 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 3336 T1 - Perceiving fear in dynamic body expressions JF - NeuroImage JA - Neuroimage M3 - S1053-8119(06)01167-0 A1 - GrŠzes,J A1 - Pichon,S A1 - de Gelder,B VL - 35 IS - 2 PY - 2007/04/01/ N2 - Characteristic fear behaviour like putting the hands in front of the face and running for cover provides strong fear signals to observers who may not themselves be aware of any danger. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in humans, we investigated how such dynamic fear signals from the whole body are perceived. A factorial design allowed us to investigate brain activity induced by viewing bodies, bodily expressions of fear and the role of dynamic information in viewing them. Our critical findings are threefold. We find that viewing neutral and fearful body expressions enhances amygdala activity; moreover actions expressing fear activate the temporal pole and lateral orbital cortex more than neutral actions; and finally differences in activations between static and dynamic bodily expressions were larger for actions expressing fear in the STS and premotor cortex compared to neutral actions. KW - Adult KW - Brain KW - Fear KW - Female KW - Gestures KW - Humans KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging KW - Male KW - Perception SP - 959 EP - 67 SN - 1053-8119 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17270466 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 13886 T1 - Rapid detection of fear in body expressions, an ERP study JF - Brain Research JA - Brain Res M3 - S0006-8993(07)02334-7 A1 - van Heijnsbergen,C C R J A1 - Meeren,H K M A1 - GrŠzes,J A1 - de Gelder,B VL - 1186 PY - 2007/12// N2 - Recent findings indicate that the perceptual processing of fearful expressions in the face can already be initiated around 100-120 ms after stimulus presentation, demonstrating that emotional information of a face can be encoded before the identity of the face is fully recognized. At present it is not clear whether fear signals from body expressions may be encoded equally as rapid. To answer this question we investigated the early temporal dynamics of perceiving fearful body expression by measuring EEG. Participants viewed images of whole body actions presented either in a neutral or a fearful version. We observed an early emotion effect on the P1 peak latency around 112 ms post stimulus onset hitherto only found for facial expressions. Also consistent with the majority of facial expression studies, the N170 component elicited by perceiving bodies proved not to be sensitive for the expressed fear. In line with previous work, its vertex positive counterpart, the VPP, did show a condition-specific influence for fearful body expression. Our results indicate that the information provided by fearful body expression is already encoded in the early stages of visual processing, and suggest that similar early processing mechanisms are involved in the perception of fear in faces and bodies. KW - Adult KW - Comprehension KW - Evoked Potentials, Visual KW - Fear KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Kinesics KW - Male KW - Reaction Time KW - Recognition (Psychology) KW - Reference Values KW - Social Perception KW - Time Factors SP - 233 EP - 41 SN - 0006-8993 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17996856 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 435 T1 - Seeing or doing? Influence of visual and motor familiarity in action observation JF - Current Biology: CB JA - Curr Biol M3 - S0960-9822(06)01998-1 A1 - Calvo-Merino,Beatriz A1 - GrŠzes,Julie A1 - Glaser,Daniel E A1 - Passingham,Richard E A1 - Haggard,Patrick VL - 16 IS - 19 PY - 2006/10/10/ N2 - The human brain contains specialized circuits for observing and understanding actions. Previous studies have not distinguished whether this "mirror system" uses specialized motor representations or general processes of visual inference and knowledge to understand observed actions. We report the first neuroimaging study to distinguish between these alternatives. Purely motoric influences on perception have been shown behaviorally, but their neural bases are unknown. We used fMRI to reveal the neural bases of motor influences on action observation. We controlled for visual and knowledge effects by studying expert dancers. Some ballet moves are performed by only one gender. However, male and female dancers train together and have equal visual familiarity with all moves. Male and female dancers viewed videos of gender-specific male and female ballet moves. We found greater premotor, parietal, and cerebellar activity when dancers viewed moves from their own motor repertoire, compared to opposite-gender moves that they frequently saw but did not perform. Our results show that mirror circuits have a purely motor response over and above visual representations of action. We understand actions not only by visual recognition, but also motorically. In addition, we confirm that the cerebellum is part of the action observation network. KW - Adolescent KW - Adult KW - Brain Mapping KW - Cerebellum KW - Dancing KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging KW - Male KW - Motor Activity KW - Photic Stimulation KW - Recognition (Psychology) KW - Visual Perception SP - 1905 EP - 10 SN - 0960-9822 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17027486 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 5271 T1 - The effects of learning and intention on the neural network involved in the perception of meaningless actions JF - Brain: A Journal of Neurology JA - Brain M3 - 10506090 A1 - GrŠzes,J A1 - Costes,N A1 - Decety,J VL - 122 ( Pt 10) PY - 1999/10// N2 - PET was used to explore the neural network involved in the perception of meaningless action. In two conditions, subjects observed learned and unknown meaningless actions without any purpose. In two other conditions, subjects observed the same type of stimuli for later imitation. The control condition, which consisted of the presention of stationary hands, served as a baseline. Unsurprisingly, a common network that forms part of the dorsal pathway was engaged in all conditions when compared with stationary hands, and this was interpreted as being devoted to the analysis of hand movements. One of the most striking results of the present study was that some brain areas were strongly modulated by the learning level, independent of the subject's intention. Two different effects were observed: a reduced activity in posterior regions within the common network, which correlated with specific increases in the frontopolar area 10 and in the angular gyrus during the perception of learned meaningless actions compared with the perception of unknown actions. Finally, the major effect of the subject's intention to imitate was a strong increase in the dorsal pathway extending to the lateral premotor cortex and to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which reflects the information processing needed for prospective action. Overall, our results provide evidence for both an effect of the visuomotor learning level and of the subject's intention on the neural network involved during the perception of human meaningless actions. KW - Adult KW - Brain KW - Brain Mapping KW - Cerebrovascular Circulation KW - Hand KW - Humans KW - Imitative Behavior KW - Learning KW - Male KW - Motion Perception KW - Motivation KW - Movement KW - Nerve Net KW - Perception KW - Time Factors KW - Tomography, Emission-Computed KW - Visual Perception SP - 1875 EP - 87 SN - 0006-8950 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10506090 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 11598 T1 - The power of simulation: imagining one's own and other's behavior JF - Brain Research JA - Brain Res M3 - S0006-8993(06)00010-2 A1 - Decety,Jean A1 - GrŠzes,Julie VL - 1079 IS - 1 PY - 2006/03/24/ N2 - A large number of cognitive neuroscience studies point to the similarities in the neural circuits activated during the generation, imagination, as well as observation of one's own and other's behavior. Such findings support the shared representations account of social cognition, which is suggested to provide the basic mechanism for social interaction. Mental simulation may also be a representational tool to understand the self and others. However, successfully navigating these shared representations--both within oneself and between individuals--constitutes an essential functional property of any autonomous agent. It will be argued that self-awareness and agency, mediated by the temporoparietal (TPJ) area and the prefrontal cortex, are critical aspects of the social mind. Thus, differences as well as similarities between self and other representations at the neural level may be related to the degrees of self-awareness and agency. Overall, these data support the view that social cognition draws on both domain-general mechanisms and domain-specific embodied representations. KW - Brain KW - Brain Mapping KW - Diagnostic Imaging KW - Emotions KW - Humans KW - Imagination KW - Imitative Behavior KW - Interpersonal Relations KW - Pain KW - Perception KW - Power (Psychology) SP - 4 EP - 14 SN - 0006-8993 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16460715 ER - TY - JOUR ID - 8860 T1 - What is "mirror" in the premotor cortex? A review JF - Neurophysiologie Clinique = Clinical Neurophysiology JA - Neurophysiol Clin M3 - S0987-7053(08)00036-1 A1 - Morin,O A1 - GrŠzes,J VL - 38 IS - 3 PY - 2008/06// N2 - We review the findings of 24 fMRI studies examining activations in the premotor cortex (Brodmann's areas 6 and 44) during passive observation of actions. We found that such activations regularly occurred. Looking for functional differentiation in the premotor cortex, we found that one parameter was associated with systematic differences in location: this was the presence or absence of targets. Observing biological actions with a physical target, compared to a visual control showing no action at all, consistently activated the ventral premotor cortex (BA 6), and did so significantly more than observing target-less actions (with the same control). In contrast, the activity in BA 44 ("Broca's area") was not modulated by the presence or absence of targets. We propose that the ventral precentral gyrus, and not BA 44, shares the visual properties of "mirror" neurons found in area F5 of the macaque brain. KW - Animals KW - Frontal Lobe KW - Humans KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging KW - Motor Cortex KW - Movement KW - Somatosensory Cortex KW - Visual Perception SP - 189 EP - 95 SN - 0987-7053 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18539253 ER -