Abstract
Sensorimotor regions of the brain have been implicated in simulation processes such as action understanding and empathy, but their functional role in these processes remains unspecified. We used functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to demonstrate that postcentral sensorimotor cortex integrates action and
object information to derive the sensory outcomes of observed hand–object interactions. When subjects viewed
others’ hands grasping or withdrawing from objects that were either painful or nonpainful, distinct sensorimotor
subregions emerged as showing preferential responses to different aspects of the stimuli: object information (noxious vs. innocuous), action information (grasps vs. withdrawals), and painful action outcomes (painful grasps vs.
all other conditions). Activation in the latter region correlated with subjects’ ratings of how painful each object
would be to touch and their previous experience with the object. Viewing others’ painful grasps also biased behavioral responses to actual tactile stimulation, a novel effect not seen for auditory control stimuli. Somatosensory cortices, including primary somatosensory areas 1/3b and 2 and parietal area PF, may therefore subserve
somatomotor simulation processes by integrating action and object information to anticipate the sensory consequences of observed hand–object interactions.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1982-1998 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | Human Brain Mapping |
Volume | 34 |
Issue number | 8 |
Early online date | 25 Mar 2012 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 8 Jul 2013 |
Bibliographical note
ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe authors thank Matthew Richins, Astrid Roeh, the radiographers, and staff at Ysbyty Gwynedd Hospital in Bangor for valuable help with data collection and Ha˚kan Olausson, Donna Lloyd, Paul Downing, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on early drafts. Contract grant sponsor: Wellcome Trust Programme
Keywords
- Action perception
- Empathy
- FMRI
- Pain observation
- Somatosensory
- Tactile discrimination