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Dissociable functional roles of the human action‐observation network (Commentary on E. S. Cross et al. )
Author(s) -
Kilner James M.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
european journal of neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.346
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1460-9568
pISSN - 0953-816X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2009.06958.x
Subject(s) - dance , mirror neuron , psychology , superior temporal sulcus , intraparietal sulcus , action (physics) , neuroscience , premotor cortex , cognitive psychology , communication , posterior parietal cortex , cognitive science , functional magnetic resonance imaging , anatomy , dorsum , physics , quantum mechanics , medicine , art , literature
When we observe other people executing an action we are able to estimate what the underlying intentions of the person performing the action are. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying this ability. Many believe that this ability is made possible by responses in a network of brain areas that are consistently reported to be active when observing actions. This action-observation network (AON) consists of three bilateral cortical areas that are reciprocally connected, the ventral premotor cortex, inferior parietal lobule and superior temporal sulcus. (As some of the areas of the AON contain mirror neurons (Rizzolatti & Craighero, 2004; Chong et al., 2008; Kilner et al., 2009) this network is sometimes referred to as the mirror neuron system). Despite over a decade of neuroimaging research on the AON little is known about the functional role of each of these areas of the AON when observing actions.