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Grasping the Intentions of Others with One's Own Mirror Neuron System
Open accessAbstract
Understanding the intentions of others while watching their actions is a fundamental building block of social behavior. The neural and functional mechanisms underlying this ability are still poorly understood. To investigate these mechanisms we used functional magnetic resonance imaging. Twenty-three subjects watched three kinds of stimuli: grasping hand actions without a context, context only (scenes containing objects), and grasping hand actions performed in two different contexts. In the latter condition the context suggested the intention associated with the grasping action (either drinking or cleaning). Actions embedded in contexts, compared with the other two conditions, yielded a significant signal increase in the posterior part of the inferior frontal gyrus and the adjacent sector of the ventral premotor cortex where hand actions are represented. Thus, premotor mirror neuron areas-areas active during the execution and the observation of an action-previously thought to be involved only in action recognition are actually also involved in understanding the intentions of others. To ascribe an intention is to infer a forthcoming new goal, and this is an operation that the motor system does automatically.
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“Two recent studies also identified the IFG (an inferior part of the PMC) as an area involved in identifying the goals of hand movements (e.g., during behaviors like drinking and cleaning) as opposed to action execution alone [Iacoboni et al., 2005; Molnar-Szakacs et al., 2005].”
From Social cognition and the brain: A meta-analysis (2009) · cites this paper as Iacoboni et al., 2005
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“Similar goal identifying brain regions have been documented in the IFG of the human brain [Iacoboni et al., 2005].”
From Social cognition and the brain: A meta-analysis (2009) · cites this paper as Iacoboni et al., 2005
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“Evidence now suggests that this bodily resonance (see Glossary) can afford us a unique, first-person understanding of the experiences of others and is central to a number of social processes [7] including intention understanding [19], empathy [20], and emotion recognition [21].”
From Changing bodies changes minds: Owning another body affects social cognition (2015) · cites this paper as [19]
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Cattaneo, L., & Rizzolatti, G. (2009) · Archives of Neurology · doi:10.1001/archneurol.2009.41 · Cited by 3,137
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Metadata
- Authors
- Iacoboni, M., Molnar-Szakacs, I., Gallese, V., Buccino, G., Mazziotta, J. C., & Rizzolatti, G.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- University of Parma (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Iacoboni, Marco
- Venue
- PLoS Biology
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2005-02-22
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- e79
- ISSN
- 1544-9173 (ISSN-L)
- 1545-7885
- PMC
- PMC1044835
- OpenAlex
- W2042526117
- Cited by
- 2,044
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 45 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 54 · 2023: 68 · 2022: 45 · 2021: 63 · 2020: 85 · 2019: 96 · 2018: 88 · 2017: 95 · 2016: 93 · 2015: 134 · 2014: 113 · 2013: 134 · 2012: 123
- FWCI
- 153.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (0107077)
- Ahmanson Foundation
- Brain Mapping Support Foundation
- European Commission
- European Science Foundation
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH63680)
- National Center for Research Resources (RR08655, P41RR013642, RR12169, RR 13642, C06RR012169)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Keywords
- intention understanding, mirror neuron system, action observation, grasping, ventral premotor cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, social cognition, action context, goal inference, motor system
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Brain, Brain Mapping, Empathy, Female, Humans, Functional Laterality, Male, Motor Neurons, Nerve Net, Neurons, Reference Values, Video Recording, Hand Strength, Comprehension
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