Listening to action-related sentences activates fronto-parietal motor circuits.
Observing actions made by others activates the cortical circuits responsible for the planning and execution of those same actions. This observation-execution matching system (mirror-neuron system) is thought to play an important role in the understanding of actions made by others. In an fMRI experiment, we tested whether this system also becomes active during the processing of action-related sentences. Participants listened to sentences describing actions performed with the mouth, the hand, or the leg. Abstract sentences of comparable syntactic structure were used as control stimuli. The results showed that listening to action-related sentences activates a left fronto-parieto-temporal network that includes the pars opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus (Broca's area), those sectors of the premotor cortex where the actions described are motorically coded, as well as the inferior parietal lobule, the intraparietal sulcus, and the posterior middle temporal gyrus. These data provide the first direct evidence that listening to sentences that describe actions engages the visuomotor circuits which subserve action execution and observation.
Tettamanti
Marco
M
Neuroscience Department, Scientific Institute San Raffaele, Segrate (Milan), Italy. tettamanti.marco@hsr.it
Buccino
Giovanni
G
Saccuman
Maria Cristina
MC
Gallese
Vittorio
V
Danna
Massimo
M
Scifo
Paola
P
Fazio
Ferruccio
F
Rizzolatti
Giacomo
G
Cappa
Stefano F
SF
Perani
Daniela
D
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D010100:Oxygen