Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, 43125, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2019 Jan 23;9(1):348. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-36640-5.
The observation of actions performed by others is believed to activate the Action Observation Network (AON). Previous evidence suggests that subjects with a specific motor skill show increased activation of the AON during observation of the same skill. The question arises regarding which modulation of the AON occurs during observation of novel complex manipulative actions that are beyond the personal motor repertoire. To address this issue, we carried out a functional MRI study in which healthy volunteers without specific hand motor skills observed videos displaying hand-object manipulation executed by an expert with high manual dexterity, by an actor with intermediate ability or by a naïve subject. The results showed that the observation of actions performed by a naïve model produced stronger activation in a dorso-medial parieto-premotor circuit including the superior parietal lobule and dorsal premotor cortex, compared to observation of an expert actor. Functional connectivity analysis comparing the observation of the naïve model with that of the expert model, revealed increased connectivity between dorsal areas of the AON. This suggests a possible distinction between ventral and dorsal brain circuits involved in the processing of different aspects of action perception, such as kinematics and final action goal.
人们认为观察他人的行为会激活动作观察网络（AON）。先前的证据表明，具有特定运动技能的受试者在观察相同技能时，AON 的激活会增加。问题是，在观察超出个人运动技能范围的新颖复杂操作动作时，AON 会发生哪种调制。为了解决这个问题，我们进行了一项功能磁共振成像研究，其中没有特定手部运动技能的健康志愿者观察了由具有高度手灵活性的专家、能力中等的演员或天真的受试者执行的手部-物体操作视频。结果表明，与观察专家演员相比，观察天真模型执行的动作会在包括顶叶上回和背侧运动前皮质在内的背侧顶-前运动回路中产生更强的激活。比较观察天真模型与观察专家模型的功能连接分析显示，AON 的背侧区域之间的连接增加。这表明在处理动作感知的不同方面（如运动学和最终动作目标）时，参与的腹侧和背侧大脑回路之间可能存在区别。
