Neural correlates of familiar and unfamiliar action in infancy
Publication year
2022Number of pages
20 p.
Source
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 220, (2022), article 105415ISSN
Publication type
Article / Letter to editor
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Organization
SW OZ DCC CO
Journal title
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
Volume
vol. 220
Languages used
English (eng)
Subject
Action, intention, and motor controlAbstract
Behavioral evidence shows that experience with an action shapes action perception. Neural mirroring has been suggested as a mechanism underlying this behavioral phenomenon. Suppression of electroencephalogram (EEG) power in the mu frequency band, an index of motor activation, typically reflects neural mirroring. However, contradictory findings exist regarding the association between mu suppression and motor familiarity in infant EEG studies. In this study, we investigated the neural underpinnings reflecting the role of familiarity in action perception. We measured neural processing of familiar (grasp) and novel (tool-use) actions in 9- and 12-month-old infants. Specifically, we measured infants' distinct motor/visual activity and explored functional connectivity associated with these processes. Mu suppression was stronger for grasping than for tool use, whereas significant mu and occipital alpha (indexing visual activity) suppression were evident for both actions. Interestingly, selective motor–visual functional connectivity was found during observation of familiar action, a pattern not observed for novel action. Thus, the neural correlates of perception of familiar actions may be best understood in terms of a functional neural network rather than isolated regional activity. Our findings provide novel insights on analytic approaches for identifying motor-specific neural activity while also considering neural networks involved in observing motorically familiar versus unfamiliar actions.
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- Academic publications [245263]
- Electronic publications [132514]
- Faculty of Social Sciences [30345]
- Open Access publications [106157]
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