Spontaneous imitation is assumed to underlie the acquisition of important skills by infants, including language and social interaction. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine the neural basis of 'spontaneously' driven imitation, which has not yet been fully investigated. Healthy participants were presented with movie clips of meaningless bimanual actions and instructed to observe and imitate them during an fMRI scan. The participants were subsequently shown the movie clips again and asked to evaluate the strength of their 'urge to imitate' (Urge) for each action. We searched for cortical areas where the degree of activation positively correlated with Urge scores; significant positive correlations were observed in the right supplementary motor area (SMA) and bilateral midcingulate cortex (MCC) under the imitation condition. These areas were not explained by explicit reasons for imitation or the kinematic characteristics of the actions. Previous studies performed in monkeys and humans have implicated the SMA and MCC/caudal cingulate zone in voluntary actions. This study also confirmed the functional connectivity between Urge and imitation performance using a psychophysiological interaction analysis. Thus, our findings reveal the critical neural components that underlie spontaneous imitation and provide possible reasons why infants imitate spontaneously.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4692314 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsv089 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Accurate Arrhythmia Classification with Multi-Branch, Multi-Head Attention Temporal Convolutional Networks.
Sensors (Basel)
December 2024
School of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China.
Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals contain complex and diverse features, serving as a crucial basis for arrhythmia diagnosis. The subtle differences in characteristics among various types of arrhythmias, coupled with class imbalance issues in datasets, often hinder existing models from effectively capturing key information within these complex signals, leading to a bias towards normal classes. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a method for arrhythmia classification based on a multi-branch, multi-head attention temporal convolutional network (MB-MHA-TCN).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA Dual Filter Based on Radial Basis Function Neural Networks and Kalman Filters with Application to Numerical Wave Prediction Models.
Sensors (Basel)
December 2024
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of West Attica, Ancient Olive Grove Campus, 250, Thivon Ave., Egaleo, 12241 Athens, Greece.
The aim of this study is to introduce and evaluate a dual filter that combines Radial Basis Function neural networks and Kalman filters to enhance the accuracy of numerical wave prediction models. Unlike the existing methods, which focus solely on systematic errors, the proposed framework concurrently targets both systematic and non-systematic parts of forecast errors, significantly reducing the bias and variability in significant wave height predictions. The produced filter is self-adaptive, identifying optimal Radial Basis Function network configurations through an automated process involving various network parameters tuning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeural pathways of nausea and roles in energy balance.
Curr Opin Neurobiol
January 2025
Department of Physiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Electronic address:
Our internal sensory systems encode various gut-related sensations, such as hunger, feelings of fullness, and nausea. These internal feelings influence our eating behaviors and play a vital role in regulating energy balance. Among them, the neurological basis for nausea has been the least well characterized, which has hindered comprehension of the connection between these sensations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNa-K-ATPase/GLT-1 interaction participates in EGCG protection against cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats.
Phytomedicine
December 2024
Hebei Key Laboratory of Critical Disease Mechanism and Intervention, Department of Pathophysiology, Neuroscience Research Center, The Key Laboratory of Neural and Vascular Biology, Ministry of Education, Hebei Medical University, 361 Zhongshan East Road, Shijiazhuang 050017, China. Electronic address:
Background: In China, stroke is the primary cause of adult death and disability. Because of the increased rate of blood vessel reperfusion, it is important to prevent cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury, in which glutamate (Glu) excitotoxicity plays a critical role. The most important Glu transporter, GLT-1, is essential for the regulation of Glu, which is dependent on Na-K-ATPase (NKA)-induced ion concentration gradient differences.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeurons use cell-adhesion molecules (CAMs) to interact with other neurons and the extracellular environment: the combination of CAMs specifies migration patterns, neuronal morphologies, and synaptic connections across diverse neuron types. Yet little is known regarding the intracellular signaling cascade mediating the CAM recognitions at the cell surface across different neuron types. In this study, we investigated the neural developmental role of Afadin , a cytosolic adapter protein that connects multiple CAM families to intracellular F-actin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!