Open AccessMirroring and brain connectivity of gesture observation
Author(s) -
Giulia Fronda
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
neuropsychological trends
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.198
H-Index - 7
eISSN - 1970-321X
pISSN - 1970-3201
DOI - 10.7358/neur-2021-030-fron
Subject(s) - gesture , mirroring , psychology , valence (chemistry) , communication , cognitive psychology , brain activity and meditation , neuroscience , electroencephalography , computer science , artificial intelligence , chemistry , organic chemistry
Non-verbal communication involves di rent channels, as gestures, to communicate different information. The present study aims investigating the electrophysiological (EEG) correlates underlying the use of affective, social, and informative gestures during gesture observation by an encoder (who observed to reproduce the gestures successively) and decoder (who simply observed the gestures). Mirroring mechanisms were considered for a gesture observation task. Results showed an increase of frontal alpha, delta, and theta brain responsiveness and intra-brain connectivity for affective and social gestures. and of posterior (temporo-parietal) alpha activity and alpha and delta intra-brain connectivity for informative ones. Concerning inter-agents' role, similar responses were found for all gestures. Regarding gesture valence, an increase of delta and theta activity was observed for positive gestures on the left cerebral side. This study, therefore, revealed the function of gestures' type and valence in influencing individuals' brain activity, showing the presence of mirroring mechanisms underlying gesture observation.