title: The neural basis of the imitation drive.
abstract: Spontaneous imitation is assumed to underlie the acquisition of important skills by infants, including language and social interaction. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine the neural basis of 'spontaneously' driven imitation, which has not yet been fully investigated. Healthy participants were presented with movie clips of meaningless bimanual actions and instructed to observe and imitate them during an fMRI scan. The participants were subsequently shown the movie clips again and asked to evaluate the strength of their 'urge to imitate' (Urge) for each action. We searched for cortical areas where the degree of activation positively correlated with Urge scores; significant positive correlations were observed in the right supplementary motor area (SMA) and bilateral midcingulate cortex (MCC) under the imitation condition. These areas were not explained by explicit reasons for imitation or the kinematic characteristics of the actions. Previous studies performed in monkeys and humans have implicated the SMA and MCC/caudal cingulate zone in voluntary actions. This study also confirmed the functional connectivity between Urge and imitation performance using a psychophysiological interaction analysis. Thus, our findings reveal the critical neural components that underlie spontaneous imitation and provide possible reasons why infants imitate spontaneously.
authors.affiliation: Department of Functional Brain Imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer (IDAC), Tohoku University, Seiryo-machi 4-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Seiryo-machi 2-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan, sugihanawa@idac.tohoku.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Sugiko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hanawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Functional Brain Imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer (IDAC), Tohoku University, Seiryo-machi 4-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
authors.forename: Motoaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sugiura
authors.affiliation: Smart Ageing International Research Center, IDAC, Tohoku University, Seiryo-machi 4-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nozawa
authors.affiliation: Smart Ageing International Research Center, IDAC, Tohoku University, Seiryo-machi 4-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kotozaki
authors.affiliation: Brain Science Institute, Tamagawa University, Tamagawa Gakuenn 6-1-1, Machida 194-8610, Tokyo, Japan, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), 8 Ichibancho, Chiyoda-ku 102-8472, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukihito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yomogida
authors.affiliation: Department of Functional Brain Imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer (IDAC), Tohoku University, Seiryo-machi 4-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
authors.forename: Mizuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ihara
authors.affiliation: Department of Functional Brain Imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer (IDAC), Tohoku University, Seiryo-machi 4-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoritaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Akimoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Functional Brain Imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer (IDAC), Tohoku University, Seiryo-machi 4-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan, Division of Medical Neuroimage Analysis, Department of Community Medical Supports, Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, and.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Thyreau
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Seiryo-machi 2-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Tohoku University Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Seiryo-machi 2-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Izumi
authors.affiliation: Department of Functional Brain Imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer (IDAC), Tohoku University, Seiryo-machi 4-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan, Smart Ageing International Research Center, IDAC, Tohoku University, Seiryo-machi 4-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryuta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kawashima
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D004328:Drive; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D059167:Mirror Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: autism; imitation; mirror neuron; spontaneous; urge