Prefrontal involvement in imitation learning of hand actions : effects of practice and expertise.

Vogt, Stefan and Buccino, Giovanni and Wohlschläger, Afra M. and Canessa, Nicola and Shah, N. Jon and Zilles, Karl and Eickhoff, Simon B. and Freund, Hans-Joachim and Rizzolatti, Giacomo and Fink, Gereon R. (2007) Prefrontal involvement in imitation learning of hand actions : effects of practice and expertise. NeuroImage, 37 (4). pp. 1371-1383. ISSN 1053-8119

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Abstract

In this event-related fMRI study, we demonstrate the effects of a single session of practising configural hand actions (guitar chords) on cortical activations during observation, motor preparation, and imitative execution. During the observation of non-practised actions, the mirror neuron system (MNS), consisting of inferior parietal and ventral premotor areas, was more strongly activated than for the practised actions. This finding indicates a strong role of the MNS in the early stages of imitation learning. In addition, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) was selectively involved during observation and motor preparation of the non-practised chords. This finding confirms Buccino et al.’s (2004a) model of imitation learning: for actions that are not yet part of the observer’s motor repertoire, DLPFC engages in operations of selection and combination of existing, elementary representations in the MNS. The pattern of prefrontal activations further supports Shallice’s (2004) proposal of a dominant role of the left DLPFC in modulating lower-level systems, and of a dominant role of the right DLPFC in monitoring operations.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
NeuroImage
Additional Information:
The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, NeuroImage 37 (4), 2007, © ELSEVIER.
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2800/2805
Subjects:
?? mirror neuron systemdorsolateral prefrontal cortexaction observationimitationexpertisemotor learningcognitive neuroscienceneurologybf psychology ??
ID Code:
27292
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
15 Oct 2009 08:46
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
18 Dec 2023 01:06