TY - JOUR
T1 - Responses of mirror neurons in area F5 to hand and tool grasping observation
AU - Rochat, Magali J.
AU - Caruana, Fausto
AU - Jezzini, Ahmad
AU - Escola, Ludovic
AU - Intskirveli, Irakli
AU - Grammont, Franck
AU - Gallese, Vittorio
AU - Rizzolatti, Giacomo
AU - Umiltà, Maria Alessandra
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments We thank C. Sinigaglia for his comments and R. Wood for her help in revising the manuscript. This research was supported by Ministero dell’Università della Ricerca [Relevant National Interest Projects (PRIN) and the Italian Fund for Basic Research (FIRB)] and by Information Society Technologies (IST)-Future and Emerging technologies (FET) Neurobotics. L.E. was supported by a Marie Curie Fellowship; I.I. was supported by IST-FET Mirrorbot; F.G. was supported by the Fyssen Foundation and the Cognitique program from the French government; M.J.R. was supported by FIRB; and A.J. was supported by IST-FET Neurobotics and Neuroprobes.
PY - 2010/8
Y1 - 2010/8
N2 - Mirror neurons are a distinct class of neurons that discharge both during the execution of a motor act and during observation of the same or similar motor act performed by another individual. However, the extent to which mirror neurons coding a motor act with a speciWc goal (e.g., grasping) might also respond to the observation of a motor act having the same goal, but achieved with artiWcial eVectors, is not yet established. In the present study, we addressed this issue by recording mirror neurons from the ventral premotor cortex (area F5) of two monkeys trained to grasp objects with pliers. Neuron activity was recorded during the observation and execution of grasping performed with the hand, with pliers and during observation of an experimenter spearing food with a stick. The results showed that virtually all neurons responding to the observation of hand grasping also responded to the observation of grasping with pliers and, many of them to the observation of spearing with a stick. However, the intensity and pattern of the response diVered among conditions. Hand grasping observation determined the earliest and the strongest discharge, while pliers grasping and spearing observation triggered weaker responses at longer latencies. We conclude that F5 grasping mirror neurons respond to the observation of a family of stimuli leading to the same goal. However, the response pattern depends upon the similarity between the observed motor act and the one executed by the hand, the natural motor template.
AB - Mirror neurons are a distinct class of neurons that discharge both during the execution of a motor act and during observation of the same or similar motor act performed by another individual. However, the extent to which mirror neurons coding a motor act with a speciWc goal (e.g., grasping) might also respond to the observation of a motor act having the same goal, but achieved with artiWcial eVectors, is not yet established. In the present study, we addressed this issue by recording mirror neurons from the ventral premotor cortex (area F5) of two monkeys trained to grasp objects with pliers. Neuron activity was recorded during the observation and execution of grasping performed with the hand, with pliers and during observation of an experimenter spearing food with a stick. The results showed that virtually all neurons responding to the observation of hand grasping also responded to the observation of grasping with pliers and, many of them to the observation of spearing with a stick. However, the intensity and pattern of the response diVered among conditions. Hand grasping observation determined the earliest and the strongest discharge, while pliers grasping and spearing observation triggered weaker responses at longer latencies. We conclude that F5 grasping mirror neurons respond to the observation of a family of stimuli leading to the same goal. However, the response pattern depends upon the similarity between the observed motor act and the one executed by the hand, the natural motor template.
KW - Goal coding
KW - Grasping
KW - Mirror neurons
KW - Monkey
KW - Premotor cortex
KW - Tool use
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79952108419&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00221-010-2329-9
DO - 10.1007/s00221-010-2329-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 20577726
AN - SCOPUS:79952108419
SN - 0014-4819
VL - 204
SP - 605
EP - 616
JO - Experimental Brain Research
JF - Experimental Brain Research
IS - 4
ER -