Di Cesare G, Errante A, Marchi M, Cuccio V
Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Department of Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences (RBCS), Genova, Italy; University of Parma, Department of Neuroscience, via Volturno 39/E, 43100 Parma, Italy.
University of Parma, Department of Neuroscience, via Volturno 39/E, 43100 Parma, Italy.
Brain Cogn. 2017 Nov;118:118-127. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2017.08.001. Epub 2017 Aug 19.
In this fMRI study we evaluated whether the auditory processing of action verbs pronounced by a human or a robotic voice in the imperative mood differently modulates the activation of the mirror neuron system (MNs). The study produced three results. First, the activation pattern found during listening to action verbs was very similar in both the robot and human conditions. Second, the processing of action verbs compared to abstract verbs determined the activation of the fronto-parietal circuit classically involved during the action goal understanding. Third, and most importantly, listening to action verbs compared to abstract verbs produced activation of the anterior part of the supramarginal gyrus (aSMG) regardless of the condition (human and robot) and in the absence of any object name. The supramarginal gyrus is a region considered to underpin hand-object interaction and associated to the processing of affordances. These results suggest that listening to action verbs may trigger the recruitment of motor representations characterizing affordances and action execution, coherently with the predictive nature of motor simulation that not only allows us to re-enact motor knowledge to understand others' actions but also prepares us for the actions we might need to carry out.
在这项功能磁共振成像（fMRI）研究中，我们评估了在祈使语气下，由人类或机器人语音发出的动作动词的听觉处理是否会对镜像神经元系统（MNs）的激活产生不同的调节作用。该研究产生了三个结果。第一，在听动作动词时发现的激活模式在机器人和人类条件下非常相似。第二，与抽象动词相比，动作动词的处理决定了在理解动作目标时经典涉及的额顶叶回路的激活。第三，也是最重要的一点，与抽象动词相比，听动作动词会导致缘上回前部（aSMG）的激活，无论条件（人类和机器人）如何，且在没有任何物体名称的情况下。缘上回是一个被认为是支持手与物体交互并与可供性处理相关的区域。这些结果表明，听动作动词可能会触发表征可供性和动作执行的运动表征的招募，这与运动模拟的预测性质相一致，运动模拟不仅使我们能够重新 enact 运动知识以理解他人的动作，还能让我们为可能需要执行的动作做好准备。
