Division of Cerebral Integration, Department of System Neuroscience, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, 38 Nishigonaka, Myodaiji, Okazaki, Aichi 444-8585, Japan.
Neuroimage. 2021 Jun;233:117916. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117916. Epub 2021 Mar 16.
Face-to-face imitation is a unique social interaction wherein a shared action is executed based on the feedback of the partner. Imitation by the partner is the feedback to the imitatee's action, resulting in sharing actions. The neural mechanisms of the shared representation of action during face-to-face imitation, the core of inter-subjectivity, are not well-known. Here, based on the predictive coding account, we hypothesized that the pair-specific forward internal model is the shared representation of action which is represented by the inter-individual synchronization of some portion of the mirror neuron system. Hyperscanning functional magnetic resonance imaging was conducted during face-to-face interaction in 16 pairs of participants who completed an immediate imitation task of facial expressions. Paired participants were alternately assigned to either an imitator or an imitatee who was prompted to express a happy, sad, or non-emotional face. While neural activation elicited by imitating and being imitated were distinct with little overlap, on-line imitative interaction enhanced inter-brain synchronization in the right inferior parietal lobule that correlated with the similarity in facial movement kinematic profile. This finding indicates a critical role of the right inferior parietal lobule in sharing representation of action as a pair-specific forward internal model through imitative interaction.
面对面模仿是一种独特的社会互动，其中根据伙伴的反馈执行共享动作。伙伴的模仿是对模仿者动作的反馈，从而产生共享动作。面对面模仿过程中动作的共同表示的神经机制，即主体间性的核心，尚不清楚。在这里，根据预测编码理论，我们假设特定于对的前向内部模型是动作的共同表示，它由镜像神经元系统的一部分的个体间同步来表示。在 16 对参与者进行面对面互动的功能磁共振成像超扫描中，参与者完成了面部表情的即时模仿任务。配对的参与者被交替分配为模仿者或被模仿者，他们被提示表达快乐、悲伤或非情感的面部表情。虽然模仿和被模仿引起的神经激活是不同的，几乎没有重叠，但在线模仿互动增强了右下顶叶的大脑间同步，这与面部运动运动学特征的相似性相关。这一发现表明，右下顶叶在通过模仿互动共享动作的特定于对的前向内部模型中起着关键作用。
