Action Observation and Synchronization

Shared population-level dynamics in monkey premotor cortex during solo action, joint action and action observation

The paper shows that neural dynamics in monkey premotor cortex are shared between action execution and observation, with spatial features more accurately encoded than task types.

Leaders are made: Learning acquisition of consistent leader-follower relationships depends on implicit haptic interactions.

This study shows that leader-follower roles in coordination emerge through implicit haptic interactions, not explicit communication.

Can you affect me? The influence of vitality forms on action perception and motor response

This study investigates how different vitality forms affect action perception and motor response through psychophysical experiments with physical and vocal stimuli.

A Role for Visual Areas in Physics Simulations

The paper shows that mental simulations of physical scenes activate motion-sensitive brain regions, suggesting sensory representations are involved in simulating physical interactions.

Functional selectivity for naturalistic social interaction perception in the human superior temporal sulcus

The paper uses fMRI and machine learning to show that the superior temporal sulcus (STS) selectively processes social interactions in naturalistic movies, distinct from other social features.

Tickle contagion in the somatosensory cortex

This study investigates tickle contagion in rats, finding that trunk somatosensory neurons respond to both direct and witnessed tickling, with mirrored responses driving contagious laughter.

Behavioral and Neural Representations en route to Intuitive Action Understanding

The paper investigates how intuitive action understanding is based on inferred goals and movements, finding that goals predict similarity judgments best, with visual appearance playing a minor role.

Domain General Processes for Interactive Touch

The paper tests if the right temporal parietal junction (rTPJ) is a domain general region for somatosensory social functions using neuroimaging and cross-brain coherence data.

Relationship between cardiac cycle and the timing of actions during action execution and observation

This study shows that heartbeats are timed to movements during both action execution and observation, revealing a phasic relationship between cardiac cycles and movement timing in individuals and observers.

Social Touch is associated with Neural but not Physiological Synchrony in Naturalistic Mother-Infant Interactions

The paper examines how social touch in mother-infant interactions relates to neural and physiological synchrony, finding that touch is linked to neural synchrony but not physiological synchrony during naturalistic interactions.

Insula cortex gates the interplay of action observation and preparation for controlled imitation

The paper uses fMRI and computational modeling to show the anterior insula gates the interaction between motor planning and mirror systems during intentional versus incidental imitation.

Effective connectivity reveals distinctive patterns in response to others' genuine affective experience of disgust as compared to pain

The paper investigates neural responses to genuine vs. pretended disgust using effective connectivity and finds distinct brain network involvement compared to pain empathy.

No evidence for somatosensory attenuationduring action observation of self-touch

The paper tests whether observing self-touch actions leads to somatosensory attenuation, finding no evidence for it, suggesting the mirror neuron system does not automatically simulate observed actions.

Affective contagion: how attitudes expressed by others influence our perception of actions

The paper investigates how vocal requests with different vitality forms influence the perception of goal-directed actions and measures the duration of this effect.

Teacher-student neural coupling during teaching and learning

This study shows that neural coupling between teachers and students during lectures correlates with learning outcomes, using fMRI and intersubject correlation.

Father-child dyads exhibit unique inter-subject synchronisation during co-viewing of animation video stimuli

The paper examines inter-subject synchronisation in father-child dyads during co-viewing of animation videos, finding greater synchrony in true dyads compared to control dyads, especially in emotionally arousing scenes.

Neural dynamics between anterior insular cortex and right supramarginal gyrus dissociate genuine affect sharing from automatic responses to pretended pain

Mirror Neurons are Modulated by Grip Force and Reward Expectation in the Sensorimotor Cortices (S1, M1, PMd, PMv)

This study identifies mirror neuron populations in sensorimotor cortices that represent grip force and reward expectation during manual and observational tasks in non-human primates.

Cerebral coherence in task-based fMRI hyperscanning: a new trick to an old dog

This paper introduces a method to calculate cerebral coherence in task-based fMRI hyperscanning, revealing context-specific brain couplings during cooperation and competition.

Trait mindfulness predicts inter-brain coupling during naturalistic face-to-face interactions

This study finds that trait mindfulness predicts inter-brain coupling during naturalistic face-to-face interactions in theta and beta frequency bands.

Perceived ambiguity of social interactions increases coupling between frontal and temporal nodes of the social brain

The paper shows that viewing ambiguous social interactions increases connectivity between frontal and temporal brain regions in monkeys.

The unique role of parietal cortex in action observation: Functional organization for communicative and manipulative actions

This study investigates how parietal cortex represents different action classes, finding a region specific to human indirect communicative actions and higher discriminability of action classes in parietal cortex compared to other regions.

Earlier and More Robust Sensorimotor Discrimination of ASL Signs in Deaf Signers During Imitation

This study compares sensorimotor brain activity during sign imitation between deaf signers and hearing non-signers, finding earlier and more robust differentiation in deaf signers.

Hand-selective visual regions represent how to grasp 3D tools: brain decoding during real actions

This paper decodes grasp typicality from hand-selective brain regions during real tool grasping, showing these regions encode how to grasp 3D tools even without tool use or object knowledge.

Interacting brains coming in sync through their minds: An inter-brain neurofeedback study

This study uses inter-brain synchrony as neurofeedback to enhance social interaction, showing increased synchrony at theta frequency and correlations with subjective reports.

Subjective understanding of actions and emotions requires interaction of the semantic and action observation networks

This study investigates how subjective understanding of actions and emotions involves the semantic and action observation networks using fMRI and word embeddings.

Synchronous Caregiving from Birth to Adulthood Tunes Humans' Social Brain

This study shows that synchronous caregiving from birth to adulthood shapes the neural basis of empathic accuracy in humans.

Motor resonance is modulated by an object's weight distribution

The paper investigates whether motor resonance is modulated by an object's weight distribution and finds that it is, during both observation and planning of lifting actions.

Synchrony of mind and body are distinct in mother-child dyads

The paper examines whether neural, autonomic, and behavioral synchrony in mother-child dyads are distinct, finding that neural synchrony differs from other systems and is linked to social affiliation.

Sharing happy stories increases interpersonal closeness mediated by enhancing interpersonal brain synchronization

Sharing happy stories increases interpersonal closeness by enhancing brain synchronization in specific brain regions, as shown through EEG and behavioral assessments.