The DOI matches its Crossref record; 43 of the 43 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Cortical Mechanisms of Human Imitation
Abstract
How does imitation occur? How can the motor plans necessary for imitating an action derive from the observation of that action? Imitation may be based on a mechanism directly matching the observed action onto an internal motor representation of that action ("direct matching hypothesis"). To test this hypothesis, normal human participants were asked to observe and imitate a finger movement and to perform the same movement after spatial or symbolic cues. Brain activity was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging. If the direct matching hypothesis is correct, there should be areas that become active during finger movement, regardless of how it is evoked, and their activation should increase when the same movement is elicited by the observation of an identical movement made by another individual. Two areas with these properties were found in the left inferior frontal cortex (opercular region) and the rostral-most region of the right superior parietal lobule.
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In the citing paper
“In the case of imitation, the mirror neuron system (MNS) has been hypothesized to underlie automatic response activation (Ferrari et al., 2009), since it responds during the observation and execution of similar actions and provides input to primary motor cortex (Di Pellegrino et al., 1992; Iacoboni et al., 1999; Rizzolatti and Craighero, 2004).”
From To imitate or not: Avoiding imitation involves preparatory inhibition of motor resonance (2014) · cites this paper as Iacoboni et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“In the case of imitation, the mirror neuron system (MNS) has been hypothesized to underlie automatic response activation (Ferrari et al., 2009), since it responds during the observation and execution of similar actions and provides input to primary motor cortex (Di Pellegrino et al., 1992; Iacoboni et al., 1999; Rizzolatti and Craighero, 2004).”
From To imitate or not: Avoiding imitation involves preparatory inhibition of motor resonance (2014) · cites this paper as Iacoboni et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“As such, the direct matching hypothesis between perception of an action and the activation of its internal motor representation (Iacoboni et al., 1999) suggests imitation as a prepotent response tendency (Brass et al., 2005).”
From Interplay of self-other distinction and cognitive control mechanisms in a social automatic imitation task: An ERP study (2021) · cites this paper as Iacoboni et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has identified regions of PMC (both classic BA6, and BA44) and inferior parietal areas that are active during both action observation and execution”
From Mirror neurons: from origin to function (2014) · cites this paper as Iacoboni et al., 1999
In the citing paper
“Moreover, this process seems to prime the execution of similar actions, which suggests that the mirror-neuron system mediates imitation, by priming (i.e., preparing the brain for) execution of the same action (e.g., Iacoboni et al. 1999).”
From An Evolutionary Upgrade of Cognitive Load Theory: Using the Human Motor System and Collaboration to Support the Learning of Complex Cognitive Tasks (2012) · cites this paper as Iacoboni et al. 1999
Citations
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- Two recent behavioral studies demonstrated that movement observation strongly affects movement execution in a paradigm similar to the one adopted here (M. Brass H. Bekkering A. Wohlschlager W. Prinz Brain Cogn. in press; M. Brass H. Bekkering W. Prinz Acta Psychol. in press). In both of these studies as in this imaging study a “mirror” configuration (right hand imitation of left hand action) was selected because it has been repeatedly shown that there is a natural tendency to imitate in the mirror configuration [
- ]. Statistical analysis was performed with analysis of variance (ANOVA) [R. P. Woods M. Iacoboni S. T. Grafton J. C. Mazziotta in Quantification of Brain Function Using PET R. Myers V. Cunningham D. Bailey T. Jones Eds. (Academic Press San Diego CA 1996) pp. 353–358]. Participants ( n = 12) fMRI scans ( n = 4) task ( n = 2: observation and observation-execution) and stimuli ( n = 3: animated hand static hand and geometric figure) were included in the ANOVA whereas rest periods were excluded. Because of the “blurred” hemodynamic response the six brain volumes acquired per task period cannot be considered independent observations. Thus we used the sum of the signal intensity at each voxel throughout each task period as the dependent variable. To account for the delayed hemodynamic response [
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Rizzolatti, G., & Craighero, L. (2004) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.27.070203.144230 · Cited by 7,433
Self-citationBarsalou, L. W. (2008) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093639 · Cited by 5,936
The faculty of language: what is it, who has it, and how did it evolve?
Hauser, M. D., Chomsky, N., & Fitch, W. T. (2002) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.298.5598.1569 · Cited by 5,189
Empathy: its ultimate and proximate bases
Preston, S. D., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2002) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x02000018 · Cited by 4,126
The functional architecture of human empathy
Decety, J., & Jackson, P. L. (2004) · Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews · doi:10.1177/1534582304267187 · Cited by 3,407
Metadata
- Authors
- Iacoboni, M., Woods, R. P., Brass, M., Bekkering, H., Mazziotta, J. C., & Rizzolatti, G.
- Affiliations
- Brain Mapping Center, Neuropsychiatric Institute,
- Max Planck Society (DE)
- Department of Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research, Leopoldstrasse 24, D-80802 Munich, Germany.
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- University of Parma (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Iacoboni, Marco
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 1999-12-24
- Volume
- 286
- Issue
- 5449
- Pages
- 2526-2528
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2157915068
- Cited by
- 2,683
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 25 · 2025: 38 · 2024: 42 · 2023: 63 · 2022: 46 · 2021: 59 · 2020: 61 · 2019: 83 · 2018: 87 · 2017: 96 · 2016: 90 · 2015: 120 · 2014: 138 · 2013: 127 · 2012: 160
- FWCI
- 76.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion)
- Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (submittedVersion)
- Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Motor Control and Adaptation
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Keywords
- imitation, action observation, motor planning, mirror neuron system, inferior frontal cortex, superior parietal lobule, finger movement
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Brain Mapping, Cues, Female, Fingers, Frontal Lobe, Humans, Imitative Behavior, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Movement, Neurons, Parietal Lobe
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