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The contribution of the motor system to action understanding| old_uid | 7516 |
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| title | The contribution of the motor system to action understanding |
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| start_date | 2009/10/26 |
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| schedule | 17h |
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| online | no |
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| summary | In the recent years we have empirically shown that the observation of actions performed by others automatically activates the observer's premotor cortex. These data, coming from electrophysiological recordings in monkeys (mirror neurons) and from transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and brain imaging studies on humans, support the idea that this observation-evoked motor resonance could be the functional expression of a brain mechanism involved in understanding» the actions made by others. However, it might appear paradoxical that the motor centres, classically considered the output stage of the brain, are involved in such high-level cognitive task. In the first part of my presentation I will discuss this issue by showing that mirror neurons are indeed part of a more general mechanism involving motor representations in perceptual processing. In the second part of my talk I will show that during speech listening, transcranial magnetic stimulation reveals an enhancement of excitability of the listener's tongue motor representations and, according to some very new data, this motor involvement is necessary for speech perception. Finally, I will discuss the involvement of Broca's area in action understanding, being this speech-related centre constantly activated by the observation of actions of others. |
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| responsibles | Vauclair |
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