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Left inferior parietal and posterior temporal cortices mediate the effect of action observation on semantic processing of objects: evidence from rTMS.
De Bellis, Francesco; Magliacano, Alfonso; Sagliano, Laura; Conson, Massimiliano; Grossi, Dario; Trojano, Luigi.
Affiliation
  • De Bellis F; Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Campania 'Luigi Vanvitelli', Viale Ellittico 31, 81100, Caserta, Italy.
  • Magliacano A; Maugeri Scientific and Clinical Institutes, IRCCS, Disorders of Consciousness Lab, Institute of Telese Terme, Telese Terme, Italy.
  • Sagliano L; Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Campania 'Luigi Vanvitelli', Viale Ellittico 31, 81100, Caserta, Italy.
  • Conson M; Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Campania 'Luigi Vanvitelli', Viale Ellittico 31, 81100, Caserta, Italy.
  • Grossi D; Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Campania 'Luigi Vanvitelli', Viale Ellittico 31, 81100, Caserta, Italy.
  • Trojano L; Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Campania 'Luigi Vanvitelli', Viale Ellittico 31, 81100, Caserta, Italy.
Psychol Res ; 84(4): 1006-1019, 2020 Jun.
Article in En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30406828
Previous studies showed that motor information related to tool use (i.e., functional actions) could affect processing of objects semantic properties, whereas motor information related to grasping or moving tool (i.e., structural actions) cannot. However, little is known about the neural correlates mediating such interaction between motor and semantic information. Here, healthy participants performed a semantic judgment task requiring identification of semantic relations among objects, after observing a functional, a structural or a pointing action prime. In a within-subject design, during prime presentation the participants underwent repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the left supramarginal gyrus (SMG), the left posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG) or received sham stimulation. Results showed that in the sham condition observing functional actions (vs. structural and pointing actions) favoured processing of semantic relations based on function similarity (i.e., taxonomic relations), but not of relations based on co-occurrence within an event schema (i.e., thematic relations). Moreover, stimulation of both left SMG and pMTG abolished the effect of functional action primes worsening subsequent judgment about taxonomic relations, and this effect was greater after pMTG stimulation. rTMS did not affect processing of thematic semantic relations. We suggest that action observation triggers activation of functional motor information within left inferior parietal cortex, and that integration between functional motor and conceptual information in left temporal cortex could impact high-level semantic processing of tools.
Subject(s)

Full text: 1 Collection: 01-internacional Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Parietal Lobe / Temporal Lobe / Judgment Limits: Adult / Female / Humans / Male Language: En Journal: Psychol Res Year: 2020 Document type: Article Affiliation country: Country of publication:

Full text: 1 Collection: 01-internacional Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Parietal Lobe / Temporal Lobe / Judgment Limits: Adult / Female / Humans / Male Language: En Journal: Psychol Res Year: 2020 Document type: Article Affiliation country: Country of publication: