Brain mechanisms of self-recognition from kinematic cues
Poster No:
2062
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Teresa Ramundo1, Francesca Simonelli1, Matteo Marucci2,3, Simone Pezzatini2, Giacomo Handjaras1, Federico Giove4,3, Emiliano Ricciardi1, Viviana Betti2,3
Institutions:
1Molecular Mind Lab, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Lucca, Italy, 2Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy, 3IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy, 4Centro di Studi e Ricerche Enrico Fermi, Rome, Italy
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Matteo Marucci
Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome|IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation
Rome, Italy|Rome, Italy
Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome|IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation
Rome, Italy|Rome, Italy
Federico Giove
Centro di Studi e Ricerche Enrico Fermi|IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation
Rome, Italy|Rome, Italy
Centro di Studi e Ricerche Enrico Fermi|IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation
Rome, Italy|Rome, Italy
Viviana Betti
Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome|IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation
Rome, Italy|Rome, Italy
Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome|IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation
Rome, Italy|Rome, Italy
Introduction:
Recognizing an action as one's own from those of others is a fundamental mechanism for self-awareness. Behavioral and neuroimaging studies have been conducted to understand the mechanisms underpinning this ability. Behaviorally, individuals exhibit the capacity to identify their hand movements by observing kinematic patterns (Daprati et al., 2007). At the neural level, the observation of self-generated actions is associated with the activation of parietal and frontal regions (Bischoff et al., 2012; Macuga & Frey, 2011). However, knowledge about the neural basis of explicit action recognition based on encoding kinematic features is scant. To advance on this issue, we investigated the brain mechanisms of distinguishing between one's own and others' movements in the absence of aesthetic or morphological features.
Methods:
Fifteen healthy participants (7 females; mean age±SD: 25.7 ± 3.9) underwent two sessions (~10 days apart). In the first session, participants' right-hand kinematics were recorded while performing transitive and intransitive actions in a virtual reality setting. In the second session, participants were asked to observe 5-s video clips depicting their or others' movements and press a button to select Self/Other while undergoing fMRI (4 runs, 6 mins each, total of 96 trials ). Half of the videos were participants' movements, the other half were distractors. Functional images were acquired with a 3T Siemens scanner (1.1sec TR, 30ms TE, voxel size: 2.4 x 2.4 x 2.4mm) and preprocessed using fMRIPrep (Esteban et al., 2019) and AFNI (Cox, 1996). After a subject-level GLM, a 2x2 ANOVA was performed using participants' responses (Perceived Self vs Perceived Other) and gesture category (Transitive vs Intransitive) as within-subject factors. Group maps were corrected for multiple comparisons using cluster-based correction (voxel-wise p<0.01, corrected p<0.05).
Results:
Participants identified gestures significantly above chance (accuracy: 60.5% ± 7.4%; t(14)=5.5, p<0.001). Intransitive actions (64% ± 8%) were significantly more recognizable than transitive ones (57% ± 8%; t(14)= 3.6, p<0.01).
The main effect of the response factor (Fig. 1) showed significantly greater activation for the videos categorized as "Perceived Other" in the left precentral gyrus extending to the postcentral gyrus (PostCG). The main effect of the gesture category (Fig. 2) showed the recruitment of the bilateral PostCG, right superior parietal lobule, and left superior temporal gyrus during the observation of transitive actions. Instead, intransitive actions elicited increased activity in the left supramarginal gyrus, right inferior frontal gyrus, and bilateral extrastriate visual areas. No significant clusters were found for the interaction effect between response and action categories.
The main effect of the response factor (Fig. 1) showed significantly greater activation for the videos categorized as "Perceived Other" in the left precentral gyrus extending to the postcentral gyrus (PostCG). The main effect of the gesture category (Fig. 2) showed the recruitment of the bilateral PostCG, right superior parietal lobule, and left superior temporal gyrus during the observation of transitive actions. Instead, intransitive actions elicited increased activity in the left supramarginal gyrus, right inferior frontal gyrus, and bilateral extrastriate visual areas. No significant clusters were found for the interaction effect between response and action categories.
Conclusions:
We investigated the neural bases underlying the capacity to discern one's own gestures solely based on kinematic features. Notably, intransitive actions were more easily recognized, likely because these movements are unconstrained by the objects and yet maintain a high social value (e.g., hand waving). fMRI results confirmed dissociable neural correlates of observing intransitive versus transitive actions.
Interestingly, the contrast between 'Perceived Self' and 'Perceived Other' actions showed the engagement of the hand sensorimotor cortex during the elaboration of an action recognized as being performed by others. This finding is in agreement with simulation theories of action understanding (Jeannerod & Pacherie, 2004): kinematic cues may be used to predict the sensory consequences of self-generated or other-generated observed acts, thus contributing to a sense of agency (Dewey & Knoblich, 2016).
In conclusion, our results show that the idiosyncrasies in the kinematics of self-generated actions, fundamental for the recognition of one's own gesture, elicit the activation of action-related structures that participate in the distinction self/other.
Interestingly, the contrast between 'Perceived Self' and 'Perceived Other' actions showed the engagement of the hand sensorimotor cortex during the elaboration of an action recognized as being performed by others. This finding is in agreement with simulation theories of action understanding (Jeannerod & Pacherie, 2004): kinematic cues may be used to predict the sensory consequences of self-generated or other-generated observed acts, thus contributing to a sense of agency (Dewey & Knoblich, 2016).
In conclusion, our results show that the idiosyncrasies in the kinematics of self-generated actions, fundamental for the recognition of one's own gesture, elicit the activation of action-related structures that participate in the distinction self/other.
Higher Cognitive Functions:
Higher Cognitive Functions Other
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
Activation (eg. BOLD task-fMRI) 2
Univariate Modeling
Motor Behavior:
Visuo-Motor Functions
Motor Behavior Other 1
Keywords:
Motor
Somatosensory
Other - Kinematic cues - Action recognition
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Provide references using author date format
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Daprati, E., Wriessnegger, S., & Lacquaniti, F. (2007). Kinematic cues and recognition of self-generated actions. Experimental Brain Research, 177(1), 31–44.
Dewey J. A., Knoblich G. (2016). Representation of self versus others’ actions. In Obhi S. S., Cross E. S. (Eds.), Shared representations: Sensorimotor foundations of social life (pp. 351–373). Cambridge University Press.Crossref.
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