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ALE meta-analysis of action observation and imitation in the human brain
Open accessAbstract
Over the last decade, many neuroimaging studies have assessed the human brain networks underlying action observation and imitation using a variety of tasks and paradigms. Nevertheless, questions concerning which areas consistently contribute to these networks irrespective of the particular experimental design and how such processing may be lateralized remain unresolved. The current study aimed at identifying cortical areas consistently involved in action observation and imitation by combining activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis with probabilistic cytoarchitectonic maps. Meta-analysis of 139 functional magnetic resonance and positron emission tomography experiments revealed a bilateral network for both action observation and imitation. Additional subanalyses for different effectors within each network revealed highly comparable activation patterns to the overall analyses on observation and imitation, respectively, indicating an independence of these findings from potential confounds. Conjunction analysis of action observation and imitation meta-analyses revealed a bilateral network within frontal premotor, parietal, and temporo-occipital cortex. The most consistently rostral inferior parietal area was PFt, providing evidence for a possible homology of this region to macaque area PF. The observation and imitation networks differed particularly with respect to the involvement of Broca's area: whereas both networks involved a caudo-dorsal part of BA 44, activation during observation was most consistent in a more rostro-dorsal location, i.e., dorsal BA 45, while activation during imitation was most consistent in a more ventro-caudal aspect, i.e., caudal BA 44. The present meta-analysis thus summarizes and amends previous descriptions of the human brain networks related to action observation and imitation.
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“The neural substrates for person and action perception span the fusiform gyrus, occipitotemporal cortex, and posterior superior temporal sulcus, as well as the mirror neuron system (Kanwisher, 2010;Caspers, et al., 2010).”
From The inhibition of automatic imitation: a meta-analysis and synthesis of fMRI studies (2018) · cites this paper as Caspers, et al., 2010
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“A recent meta-analysis of functional imaging studies found consistent responses during imitation tasks in classical MN areas, suggesting a possible functional involvement of MNs in imitation”
From Mirror neurons: from origin to function (2014) · cites this paper as Caspers, Zilles, Laird, & Eickhoff, 2010
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“a random-effects inference was invoked, focusing on the above-chance convergence across different experiments”
From Parsing the neural correlates of moral cognition: ALE meta-analysis on morality, theory of mind, and empathy (2012) · cites this paper as Caspers et al. 2010
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Metadata
- Authors
- Caspers, S., Zilles, K., Laird, A. R., & Eickhoff, S. B.
- Affiliations
- Forschungszentrum Jülich (DE)
- The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Caspers, Svenja
- Venue
- NeuroImage
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2010-04
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 1148-1167
- ISSN
- 1053-8119 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4981639
- OpenAlex
- W2084475173
- Cited by
- 1,386
- References
- 206
- Citations by year
- 2026: 58 · 2025: 57 · 2024: 89 · 2023: 94 · 2022: 108 · 2021: 88 · 2020: 125 · 2019: 97 · 2018: 115 · 2017: 92 · 2016: 78 · 2015: 89 · 2014: 83 · 2013: 93 · 2012: 52
- FWCI
- 8.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- NeuroImage (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- JuSER (Forschungszentrum Jülich) (submittedVersion)
- RWTH Publications (RWTH Aachen) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Human Brain Project (R01-MH074457-01A1)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Keywords
- action observation, action imitation, mirror neuron system, brain networks, Broca's area, inferior parietal cortex, temporo-occipital cortex, hemispheric lateralization, activation likelihood estimation
- MeSH terms
- Algorithms, Brain, Brain Mapping, Humans, Imitative Behavior, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Motion Perception, Motor Activity, Neural Pathways, Probability, Likelihood Functions, Positron-Emission Tomography
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