The imitation model presented from the 1st-person view, but not from the 3rd-person view, provides kinesthetic information of observed action: an fMRI study

Rui Watanabe*, Takahiro Higuchi*, Yoshiaki Kikuchi**
* Department of Health Promotion Science, Tokyo Metropolitan University, JAPAN
**Department of Frontier Health Science, Tokyo Metropolitan University, JAPAN

ABSTRACT
Our previous study has shown that an imitation model presented from the 1st-person view activated Mirror Neuron System (MNS) stronger than that presented from the 3rd-person view. The present study was designed to examine the hypothesis that the MNS is activated strongly with the imitation model presented from the 1st-person view because it efficiently conveys the kinesthetic information of the model's action. In the experiment, seventeen participants were asked to quickly lift one of three fingers that corresponded to the model's finger. There were 2 (view: 1st-person or 3rd-person) Χ 2 (finger-indication: moving or static) versions of model's presentation. With regard to the finger-indication condition, the finger to be lifted was indicated with a videotaped finger-lifting of the model (moving) or a cross that appeared on the finger (static). We hypothesized that, if an advantage of the model presented from the 1st-person view was to convey kinesthetic information of model's action, then such effect would disappear when static model was used (i.e., no kinesthetic information was contained in the model). The results supported this hypothesis: brain activity in the MNS, as well as right insula, was stronger under 1st-person moving condition than under the 1st-person static condition. Moreover, no stronger brain activity in the MNS was found under the 3rd-person conditions. These findings suggest that the advantage of the model presented from the 1st-person view was to convey kinesthetic information of model's action. Strong activation of right insula, which involves body-ownership, seemed to show that the presentation of the model's action from the 1st-person view could facilitate imitation because the participants felt as if the model's hands were their own hand.