The pain hidden in your hands: Facial expression of pain reduces the influence of goal-related information in action recognition.

The involvement of the sensorimotor system in the perception of painful actions has been repeatedly demonstrated. Yet the cognitive processes corresponding to sensorimotor activations have not been identified. In particular, the respective role of higher-level and lower-level action representations such as goals and grips in the recognition of painful actions is not clear.

Can the early visual processing of others' actions be related to social power and dominance?

Although goals often drive action understanding, this ability is also prone to important variability among individuals, which may have its origin in individual social characteristics. The present study aimed at evaluating the relationship between the tendency to prioritize goal information over grip information during early visual processing of action and several social dimensions. Visual processing of grip and goal information during action recognition was evaluated in 64 participants using the priming protocol developed by Decroix and Kalénine (Exp Brain Res 236(8):2411-2426, 2018).

State-dependent TMS of inferior frontal and parietal cortices highlights integration of grip configuration and functional goals during action recognition.

Understanding the object-directed actions of conspecifics not only implies recognition of the object (e.g., a pen) and processing of the motor components (e.

Neural dynamics of grip and goal integration during the processing of others' actions with objects: An ERP study.

Recent behavioural evidence suggests that when processing others' actions, motor acts and goal-related information both contribute to action recognition. Yet the neuronal mechanisms underlying the dynamic integration of the two action dimensions remain unclear. This study aims to elucidate the ERP components underlying the processing and integration of grip and goal-related information.

What first drives visual attention during the recognition of object-directed actions? The role of kinematics and goal information.

The recognition of others' object-directed actions is known to involve the decoding of both the visual kinematics of the action and the action goal. Yet whether action recognition is first guided by the processing of visual kinematics or by a prediction about the goal of the actor remains debated. In order to provide experimental evidence to this issue, the present study aimed at investigating whether visual attention would be preferentially captured by visual kinematics or by action goal information when processing others' actions.