Buccino G, Binkofski F, Fink G R, Fadiga L, Fogassi L, Gallese V, Seitz R J, Zilles K, Rizzolatti G, Freund H J
Istituto di Fisiologia Umana, Università di Parma, Via Volturno 39, I-43100 Parma, Italy.
Eur J Neurosci. 2001 Jan;13(2):400-4.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to localize brain areas that were active during the observation of actions made by another individual. Object- and non-object-related actions made with different effectors (mouth, hand and foot) were presented. Observation of both object- and non-object-related actions determined a somatotopically organized activation of premotor cortex. The somatotopic pattern was similar to that of the classical motor cortex homunculus. During the observation of object-related actions, an activation, also somatotopically organized, was additionally found in the posterior parietal lobe. Thus, when individuals observe an action, an internal replica of that action is automatically generated in their premotor cortex. In the case of object-related actions, a further object-related analysis is performed in the parietal lobe, as if the subjects were indeed using those objects. These results bring the previous concept of an action observation/execution matching system (mirror system) into a broader perspective: this system is not restricted to the ventral premotor cortex, but involves several somatotopically organized motor circuits.
功能磁共振成像（fMRI）被用于定位在观察他人做出的动作时活跃的脑区。呈现了用不同效应器（嘴、手和脚）做出的与物体相关和与物体无关的动作。对与物体相关和与物体无关的动作的观察都确定了运动前皮层的躯体定位组织激活。这种躯体定位模式与经典运动皮层小人图的模式相似。在观察与物体相关的动作时，在后顶叶还额外发现了一种同样按躯体定位组织的激活。因此，当个体观察一个动作时，该动作的内部复制品会在他们的运动前皮层中自动生成。在与物体相关的动作的情况下，在顶叶会进行进一步的与物体相关的分析，就好像受试者确实在使用那些物体一样。这些结果将先前的动作观察/执行匹配系统（镜像系统）的概念带入了一个更广阔的视角：这个系统不仅限于腹侧运动前皮层，还涉及几个按躯体定位组织的运动回路。
