Article
Biology
Natalja Gavrilov, Andreas Nieder
Summary: Research on macaques found that neurons in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and the rostroventral premotor cortex of the inferior frontal cortex can signal impending vocal or manual actions separately, suggesting a specialized network for controlling voluntary utterances evolved during primate evolution.
Review
Neurosciences
Giovanni Pezzulo, Francesco Donnarumma, Simone Ferrari-Toniolo, Paul Cisek, Alexandra Battaglia-Mayer
Summary: Studies on the neural population dynamics in monkey motor areas during reaching tasks reveal that the activity mainly represents the generation and timing of motor behavior. The research shows that PMd encodes spatial aspects regardless of specific behavioral demands, with neural dynamics shared across action execution and observation. This suggests that the largest components of premotor population dynamics may reflect higher cognitive motor processes.
PROGRESS IN NEUROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biology
Alessandro Zanini, Audrey Dureux, Janahan Selvanayagam, Stefan Everling
Summary: The study found that the observation of others' actions activates a network of temporal, parietal and premotor/prefrontal areas in macaque monkeys and humans, which plays important roles in social action monitoring, learning by imitation, and social cognition. The researchers used ultra-high field fMRI at 9.4 T to observe common marmosets while they watched videos of goal-directed or non-goal-directed actions. The results showed that the observation of goal-directed actions activates a temporo-parieto-frontal network, which overlaps with the AON in humans and macaques, suggesting the existence of an evolutionarily conserved network that predates the separation of Old and New-World primates.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Robertas Guzulaitis, Luca Godenzini, Lucy Maree Palmer
Summary: The anterior lateral motor cortex plays an important role in influencing behavioral performance and impulsive behavior. Planning motor actions can improve performance, but it can also lead to premature actions.
NATURE NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Chaoyi Qin, Frederic Michon, Yoshiyuki Onuki, Yohei Ishishita, Keisuke Otani, Kensuke Kawai, Pascal Fries, Valeria Gazzola, Christian Keysers
Summary: This study utilized intracranial electrocorticography to investigate the changes in the action observation network (AON) when isolated motor acts are embedded in meaningful sequences of actions. The results showed that embedding predictable actions in meaningful sequences induced stronger top-down beta oscillation from the precentral to supramarginal contacts, and also suppressed bottom-up visual responses in the high-gamma range in visual areas.
Article
Neurosciences
Chang Yan, Thomas B. Christophel, Carsten Allefeld, John-Dylan Haynes
Summary: Studies using fMRI and multi-voxel pattern analyses investigated the retention of verbal working memory contents in Chinese native speakers memorizing Chinese characters. Results suggest that language-related brain regions, particularly Broca's area and left premotor cortex, play a key role in maintaining verbal working memory content, while the early visual cortex is unlikely to be involved in memory retention.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Florian Sandhaeger, Nina Omejc, Anna-Antonia Pape, Markus Siegel
Summary: This study demonstrates that the human brain encodes perceptual choices in an abstract manner independent of specific motor actions, even if not required by the task context. These choice representations are invariant to response mapping, distinct from motor signals, and influenced by stimuli, with their strength predicting decision confidence and accuracy.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Alexander M. Dreyer, Jochem W. Rieger
Summary: This study aimed to investigate the human mirror system using magnetoencephalography, revealing HG modulation patterns in bilateral occipito-parietal and sensorimotor areas during movement observation, as well as mnemonic mirroring related HG modulation over contra-lateral fronto-temporal areas. These findings lay the groundwork for further research on the human mirror system and potential applications in brain-computer interface and neurorehabilitation.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Wen-Yi Wu, Yawei Cheng, Keng- Chen Liang, Ray X. Lee, Chen -Tung Yen
Summary: Although the neuronal substrate underlying empathy-associated prosocial action is not well understood, our study in rats reveals the involvement of neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and insular cortex (InC) in empathic behaviors. We identified neurons with anti-mirror properties in addition to mirror properties in both ACC and InC. ACC neurons showed higher coupling between self-in-pain and others-in-pain, while InC had a higher ratio of anti-mirror neurons. During observed pain in others, ACC neurons were more activated during active nose-poking, while InC neurons were more activated during freezing. Furthermore, both ACC and InC neurons specifically responded to rat rescuing in the helping behavior test, which was contributed by mirror neurons rather than anti-mirror neurons. Our findings demonstrate the functional involvement of the mirror neuron system in prosocial behaviors.
Review
Neurosciences
Isaac Moran, Javier Perez-Orive, Jonathan Melchor, Tonatiuh Figueroa, Luis Lemus
Summary: The study found that the supplementary motor area (SMA) in the brain is responsible for decision-related computation when transitioning from auditory to movement representations. The neural population in SMA is organized orthogonally during auditory and movement periods, indicating different computations are performed in each phase. These findings suggest that SMA integrates acoustic information to drive behavior through categorical signals.
PROGRESS IN NEUROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Behavioral Sciences
G. A. Orban, M. Lanzilotto, L. Bonini
Summary: Research findings show that neurons in the monkey anterior intraparietal area (AIP) and its putative human homologue (phAIP) exhibit selectivity for observed manipulative actions, with stable identity readout for observed actions across visual formats. While human neurons demonstrate greater invariance and can generalize from observed actions to action verbs. These properties are attributed to the convergence of superior temporal signals in AIP concerning observed body movements and changes in the body-object relationship, ultimately promoting social behavior.
TRENDS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Biology
Tali Siman-Tov, Carlos R. Gordon, Netanell Avisdris, Ofir Shany, Avigail Lerner, Omer Shuster, Roni Y. Granot, Talma Hendler
Summary: This study reveals that the pre-motor region, area 55b, is a core hub of music perception and neural entrainment is the underlying mechanism. Refining the understanding of sensorimotor integration is expected to have a major impact on various fields.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Katherine Derosier, Tess L. Veuthey, Karunesh Ganguly
Summary: This study investigates how the brain integrates signals of different timescales for purposeful actions through training rats on M1-BMI tasks, finding that M2 neural activity is correlated with BMI-potent activity over longer set of time lags. M2 units also predict the activity of both M1 direct and indirect neural populations, suggesting a continuous modulatory influence of M2 dynamics on M1 activity.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Elise Leroy, Eric Koun, David Thura
Summary: This study aimed to demonstrate the shared and managed energy resources between decision-making and action processes. The results showed that decision-making had minimal impact on motor processes, while motor processes had a significant impact on decision-making processes.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Carolina G. Ferroni, Davide Albertini, Marco Lanzilotto, Alessandro Livi, Monica Maranesi, Luca Bonini
Summary: This research investigated the neural activity in the action observation network (AON) during self and others' action encoding, revealing temporal and tuning specificities of distinct brain areas and neuronal classes. Different areas within AON showed varied prevalence of facilitated and suppressed neurons during task execution and observation, with distinct cell classes carrying specific visuomotor signals. The findings elucidated the firing properties and time course of activity at both system and local levels in the AON.
Article
Neurosciences
Rocco Mennella, Emma Vilarem, Julie Grezes
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Morgan Beaurenaut, Elliot Tokarski, Guillaume Dezecache, Julie Grezes
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2020)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Lou Safra, Coralie Chevallier, Julie Grezes, Nicolas Baumard
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2020)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Julie Grezes, Megane Erblang, Emma Vilarem, Michael Quiquempoix, Pascal Van Beers, Mathias Guillard, Fabien Sauvet, Rocco Mennella, Arnaud Rabat
Summary: This study investigated the impact of total sleep deprivation on approach/avoidance decisions when facing threatening individuals, and found that sleep loss reduced value-based evidence accumulation toward avoidance during decision making. Additionally, the decrease in positive mood after sleep deprivation positively correlated with the reduction in avoidance of fearful individuals.
Article
Neurosciences
Matias Baltazar, Julie Grezes, Marie-Maude Geoffray, Jean-Luc Picq, Laurence Conty
Summary: In this study, a novel ecological task was used to investigate the brain mechanisms underlying intraindividual variations in interoceptive accuracy (IAc). The researchers found that activity in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex increased when individuals' IAc decreased. This indicates a general mechanism of error processing in intraindividual variations of IAc, with potential implications for clinical applications.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Guillaume Dezecache, Jean-Remy Martin, Cedric Tessier, Lou Safra, Victor Pitron, Philippe Nuss, Julie Grezes
Summary: Research has shown that in life-threatening circumstances, supportive behaviors prevail, with motives behind these behaviors often rooted in cooperation and altruism rather than individualism. Factors such as inability to escape, minimal protection from danger, and interpersonal closeness with others contribute to higher reports of supportive behaviors during mass shootings.
Article
Psychology, Experimental
Morgan Beaurenaut, Guillaume Dezecache, Julie Grezes
Summary: In situations of danger, individuals maintain the mechanism of integrating other people's actions into their own action plans, and even when facing threats alone, the ability to cooperate and co-represent with a safe partner may be enhanced. Contrary to popular belief, danger does not shut down our capacities for social interaction.
Correction
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Lou Safra, Coralie Chevallier, Julie Grezes, Nicolas Baumard
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Rocco Mennella, Sophie Bavard, Ines Mentec, Julie Grezes
Summary: Adapting to the social environment involves learning to avoid potentially harmful situations, such as encounters with aggressive individuals. This study explores the influence of threatening facial expressions on instrumental active avoidance and finds that participants develop a preference for choices that maximize the probability of avoiding angry individuals. The results suggest that implicit defensive behaviors in social contexts are the result of multiple learning processes, including instrumental learning.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Tahnee Engelen, Anne Buot, Julie Grezes, Catherine Tallon-Baudry
Summary: Feeling happy and judging whether someone else is feeling happy rely on similar physiological and neural activity. A transient neural response evoked at each heartbeat, called heartbeat evoked response (HER), distinguishes between Self and Other and contributes to the subjective experience of valence. This neural response is related to the 'I' part of judging one's own emotions.
Article
Psychology, Clinical
Julie Grezes, Nathan Risch, Philippe Courtet, Emilie Olie, Rocco Mennella
Summary: Depression is associated with avoidance of happy individuals and reduced willingness to approach them in social decision-making tasks, which is correlated with the severity of anhedonia.
BEHAVIOUR RESEARCH AND THERAPY
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Experimental
Morgan Beaurenaut, Rocco Mennella, Guillaume Dezecache, Julie Grezes
Summary: Under threat, the combinations of fearful display and gaze orientation emitted by others can provide important information about danger and distress. This research investigates whether the processing of these combinations is prioritized in a threatening environment.
Meeting Abstract
Psychology, Biological
Julie Grezes, Rocco Mennella
Meeting Abstract
Psychology, Biological
Morgan Beaurenaut, Gaia Ozeray, Emilie Meaux, Guillaume Dezecache, Julie Grezes
Article
Psychology, Experimental
Emma Vilarem, Jorge L. Armony, Julie Grezes
