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Listening to Action-related Sentences Activates Fronto-parietal Motor Circuits

Scientific Institute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy

Giovanni Buccino

Università di Parma, Italy

Maria Cristina Saccuman

University of California, San Diego, and San Diego State University

Vittorio Gallese

Università di Parma, Italy

Massimo Danna and Paola Scifo

Scientific Institute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy

Ferruccio Fazio

Scientific Institute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy
Institute of Molecular Bioimaging and Physiology, CNR, Milan, Italy
Milano-Bicocca University, Milan, Italy

Giacomo Rizzolatti

Università di Parma, Italy

Stefano F. Cappa and Daniela Perani

Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy

Observing actions made by others activates the cortical circuits responsible for the planning and execution of those same actions. This observation–execution matching system (mirror-neuron system) is thought to play an important role in the understanding of actions made by others. In an fMRI experiment, we tested whether this system also becomes active during the processing of action-related sentences. Participants listened to sentences describing actions performed with the mouth, the hand, or the leg. Abstract sentences of comparable syntactic structure were used as control stimuli. The results showed that listening to action-related sentences activates a left fronto-parieto-temporal network that includes the pars opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus (Broca's area), those sectors of the premotor cortex where the actions described are motorically coded, as well as the inferior parietal lobule, the intraparietal sulcus, and the posterior middle temporal gyrus. These data provide the first direct evidence that listening to sentences that describe actions engages the visuomotor circuits which subserve action execution and observation.

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