TY - JOUR
T1 - Controlling automatic imitative tendencies
T2 - Interactions between mirror neuron and cognitive control systems
AU - Cross, Katy A.
AU - Torrisi, Salvatore
AU - Reynolds Losin, Elizabeth A.
AU - Iacoboni, Marco
N1 - Funding Information:
For generous support the authors wish to thank the Brain Mapping Medical Research Organization, Brain Mapping Support Foundation , Pierson-Lovelace Foundation , The Ahmanson Foundation , William M. and Linda R. Dietel Philanthropic Fund at the Northern Piedmont Community Foundation , Tamkin Foundation , Jennifer Jones-Simon Foundation , Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation , and Robson Family and Northstar Fund . The project described was supported by Grant Numbers RR12169 , RR13642 and RR00865 from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) , a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) ; and by the NIH under Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award ( 1F30MH091808-01A1 ). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NCRR or NIH.
PY - 2013/12
Y1 - 2013/12
N2 - Humans have an automatic tendency to imitate others. Although several regions commonly observed in social tasks have been shown to be involved in imitation control, there is little work exploring how these regions interact with one another. We used fMRI and dynamic causal modeling to identify imitation-specific control mechanisms and examine functional interactions between regions. Participants performed a pre-specified action (lifting their index or middle finger) in response to videos depicting the same two actions (biological cues) or dots moving with similar trajectories (non-biological cues). On congruent trials, the stimulus and response were similar (e.g. index finger response to index finger or left side dot stimulus), while on incongruent trials the stimulus and response were dissimilar (e.g. index finger response to middle finger or right side dot stimulus). Reaction times were slower on incongruent compared to congruent trials for both biological and non-biological stimuli, replicating previous findings that suggest the automatic imitative or spatially compatible (congruent) response must be controlled on incongruent trials. Neural correlates of the congruency effects were different depending on the cue type. The medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, inferior frontal gyrus pars opercularis (IFGpo) and the left anterior insula were involved specifically in controlling imitation. In addition, the IFGpo was also more active for biological compared to non-biological stimuli, suggesting that the region represents the frontal node of the human mirror neuron system (MNS). Effective connectivity analysis exploring the interactions between these regions, suggests a role for the mPFC and ACC in imitative conflict detection and the anterior insula in conflict resolution processes, which may occur through interactions with the frontal node of the MNS. We suggest an extension of the previous models of imitation control involving interactions between imitation-specific and general cognitive control mechanisms.
AB - Humans have an automatic tendency to imitate others. Although several regions commonly observed in social tasks have been shown to be involved in imitation control, there is little work exploring how these regions interact with one another. We used fMRI and dynamic causal modeling to identify imitation-specific control mechanisms and examine functional interactions between regions. Participants performed a pre-specified action (lifting their index or middle finger) in response to videos depicting the same two actions (biological cues) or dots moving with similar trajectories (non-biological cues). On congruent trials, the stimulus and response were similar (e.g. index finger response to index finger or left side dot stimulus), while on incongruent trials the stimulus and response were dissimilar (e.g. index finger response to middle finger or right side dot stimulus). Reaction times were slower on incongruent compared to congruent trials for both biological and non-biological stimuli, replicating previous findings that suggest the automatic imitative or spatially compatible (congruent) response must be controlled on incongruent trials. Neural correlates of the congruency effects were different depending on the cue type. The medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, inferior frontal gyrus pars opercularis (IFGpo) and the left anterior insula were involved specifically in controlling imitation. In addition, the IFGpo was also more active for biological compared to non-biological stimuli, suggesting that the region represents the frontal node of the human mirror neuron system (MNS). Effective connectivity analysis exploring the interactions between these regions, suggests a role for the mPFC and ACC in imitative conflict detection and the anterior insula in conflict resolution processes, which may occur through interactions with the frontal node of the MNS. We suggest an extension of the previous models of imitation control involving interactions between imitation-specific and general cognitive control mechanisms.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.06.060
DO - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.06.060
M3 - Article
C2 - 23811412
AN - SCOPUS:84880936891
SN - 1053-8119
VL - 83
SP - 493
EP - 504
JO - NeuroImage
JF - NeuroImage
ER -