Department of Cognitive Neurology, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Jul 17;109(29):11848-53. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1205553109. Epub 2012 Jul 2.
Objects grasped by an agent have a value not only for the acting agent, but also for an individual observing the grasping act. The value that the observer attributes to the object that is grasped can be pivotal for selecting a possible behavioral response. Mirror neurons in area F5 of the monkey premotor cortex have been suggested to play a crucial role in the understanding of action goals. However, it has not been addressed if these neurons are also involved in representing the value of the grasped object. Here we report that observation-related neuronal responses of F5 mirror neurons are indeed modulated by the value that the monkey associates with the grasped object. These findings suggest that during action observation F5 mirror neurons have access to key information needed to shape the behavioral responses of the observer.
被主体抓住的物体不仅对行为主体有价值，对观察抓取行为的个体也有价值。观察者赋予被抓取物体的价值对于选择可能的行为反应至关重要。猴子前运动皮层 F5 区的镜像神经元被认为在理解动作目标方面发挥着关键作用。然而，这些神经元是否也参与表示被抓取物体的价值尚未得到解决。在这里，我们报告说，F5 镜像神经元的与观察相关的神经元反应确实受到猴子与被抓取物体相关联的价值的调节。这些发现表明，在观察动作时，F5 镜像神经元可以访问到塑造观察者行为反应所需的关键信息。
