Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
Brain Behav. 2019 Mar;9(3):e01226. doi: 10.1002/brb3.1226. Epub 2019 Feb 11.
Although it has become widely accepted that the action observation network (AON) includes three levels (occipito-temporal, parietal and premotor), little is known concerning the specific role of these levels within perceptual tasks probing action observation. Recent single cell studies suggest that the parietal level carries the information required to discriminate between two-alternative observed actions, but do not exclude possible contributions from the other two levels.
Two functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments used a task-based attentional modulation paradigm in which subjects viewed videos of an actor performing a manipulative action on a coloured object, and discriminated between either two observed manipulative actions, two actors or two colours.
Both experiments demonstrated that relative to actor and colour discrimination, discrimination between observed manipulative actions involved the putative human anterior intraparietal sulcus (phAIP) area in parietal cortex. In one experiment, where the observed actions also differed with regard to effectors, premotor cortex was also specifically recruited.
Our results highlight the primary role of parietal cortex in discriminating between two-alternative observed manipulative actions, consistent with the view that this level plays a major role in representing the identity of an observed action.
尽管人们普遍接受动作观察网络（AON）包括三个层次（枕颞、顶叶和运动前），但对于在探测动作观察的知觉任务中这些层次的具体作用知之甚少。最近的单细胞研究表明，顶叶水平携带了区分两种备选观察动作所需的信息，但不能排除其他两个水平的可能贡献。
两项功能磁共振成像实验使用了一种基于任务的注意力调节范式，其中被试观看了一个演员对一个彩色物体进行操纵动作的视频，并对两种观察到的操纵动作、两个演员或两种颜色进行了区分。
两项实验均表明，与演员和颜色区分相比，观察到的操纵动作之间的区分涉及顶叶皮层的假定人类前内顶叶沟（phAIP）区域。在一项实验中，观察到的动作在效应器上也存在差异，运动前皮层也被特异性招募。
我们的结果突出了顶叶皮层在区分两种备选观察到的操纵动作中的主要作用，这与该水平在表示观察到的动作的身份方面发挥主要作用的观点一致。
