Decoding the physics of observed actions in the human brain.

ABSTRACT: Recognizing goal-directed actions is a computationally challenging task, requiring not only the visual analysis of body movements, but also analysis of how these movements causally impact, and thereby induce a change in, those objects targeted by an action. We tested the hypothesis that the analysis of body movements and the effects they induce relies on distinct neural representations in superior and anterior inferior parietal lobe (SPL and aIPL). In four fMRI sessions, participants observed videos of actions (e.g. breaking stick, squashing plastic bottle) along with corresponding point-light-display (PLD) stick figures, pantomimes, and abstract animations of agent-object interactions (e.g. dividing or compressing a circle). Cross-decoding between actions and animations revealed that aIPL

SUBMITTER: Wurm MF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11810105 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature