Listening to Action-related Sentences Activates Fronto-parietal Motor Circuits

@article{Tettamanti2005ListeningTA,
  title={Listening to Action-related Sentences Activates Fronto-parietal Motor Circuits},
  author={Marco Tettamanti and Giovanni Buccino and Maria Cristina Saccuman and Vittorio Gallese and Massimo Danna and Paola Scifo and Ferruccio Fazio and Giacomo Rizzolatti and Stefano F. Cappa and Daniela Perani},
  journal={Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience},
  year={2005},
  volume={17},
  pages={273-281}
}
Observing actions made by others activates the cortical circuits responsible for the planning and execution of those same actions. This observationexecution 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… 
View on MIT Press
old.unipr.it
1,038 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
77
Background Citations
488
Methods Citations
48
Results Citations
89

1,038 Citations

Citation Type

Citation Type

Effects of implied physical effort in sensory-motor and pre-frontal cortex during language comprehension
Sentential Context Modulates the Involvement of the Motor Cortex in Action Language Processing: An fMRI Study
TLDR
Functional magnetic resonance imaging activation in response to non-literal and literal sentences including arm and leg related actions indicates that during comprehension, the degree to which motor regions are recruited is context dependent, supporting the weak view of embodied cognition.
From language comprehension to action understanding and back again.
TLDR
The results are among the first to reveal, in the human brain, a functional specialization within the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) for observing actions and for observing objects, and a different organization for processing sentences describing actions and objects.
A selective representation of the meaning of actions in the auditory mirror system
A Functional Role for the Motor System in Language Understanding
TLDR
Off-line theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation is used to investigate whether a causal relationship exists between activity in premotor cortex and action-language understanding, and suggests that prem motor cortex has a functional role in action- language understanding.
Polymodal conceptual processing of human biological actions in the left inferior frontal lobe
TLDR
It is concluded that the pars opercularis of Broca's area is endowed with polymodal capabilities, allowing the processing of higher‐level conceptual aspects of action understanding.
Activation of sensory-motor areas in sentence comprehension.
TLDR
The results support the view that linguistic understanding of actions partly involves imagery or simulation of actions, and relies on some of the same neural substrate used for planning, performing, and perceiving actions.
The role of personal experience in the neural processing of action-related language
Modulation of motor and premotor cortices by actions, action words and action sentences
Neural Circuits Involved in the Recognition of Actions Performed by Nonconspecifics: An fMRI Study
TLDR
Assessment of cortical areas active during the observation of mouth actions performed by humans and by individuals belonging to other species suggests that actions made by other individuals may be recognized through different mechanisms.
...
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 99 REFERENCES
Neural Circuits Involved in the Recognition of Actions Performed by Nonconspecifics: An fMRI Study
TLDR
Assessment of cortical areas active during the observation of mouth actions performed by humans and by individuals belonging to other species suggests that actions made by other individuals may be recognized through different mechanisms.
Somatotopic Representation of Action Words in Human Motor and Premotor Cortex
The role of ventral premotor cortex in action execution and action understanding
Action observation activates premotor and parietal areas in a somatotopic manner: an fMRI study
TLDR
Results bring the previous concept of an action observation/execution matching system (mirror system) into a broader perspective: this system is not restricted to the ventral premotor cortex, but involves several somatotopically organized motor circuits.
Motor cortex maps articulatory features of speech sounds
TLDR
Sound-related somatotopic activation in precentral gyrus shows that, during speech perception, specific motor circuits are recruited that reflect phonetic distinctive features of the speech sounds encountered, thus providing direct neuroimaging support for specific links between the phonological mechanisms for speech perception and production.
Sentence comprehension and action: Effector specific modulation of the motor system
Processing the spatial configuration of complex actions involves right posterior parietal cortex: An fMRI study with clinical implications
TLDR
A specific role of the right hemisphere, especially of right posterior parietal cortex, in processing spatial aspects of complex actions is suggested to provide a physiological basis for the observed apraxic motor deficits in patients with right hemispheric damage.
Action plans used in action observation
TLDR
It is shown that when subjects observe a block stacking task, the coordination between their gaze and the actor's hand is predictive, rather than reactive, and is highly similar to the gaze–hand coordination when they perform the task themselves.
Congruent Embodied Representations for Visually Presented Actions and Linguistic Phrases Describing Actions
Premotor cortex and the recognition of motor actions.
...
...