Motor abstraction: a neuroscientific account of how action goals and intentions are mapped and understood.

Full Abstract

Recent findings in cognitive neuroscience shed light on the existence of a common neural mechanism that could account for action and intention to understand abilities in humans and non-human primates. Empirical evidence on the neural underpinnings of action goals and on their ontogeny and phylogeny is introduced and discussed. It is proposed that the properties of the mirror neuron system and the functional mechanism describing them, embodied simulation, enabled pre-linguistic forms of action and intention understanding. Basic aspects of social cognition appear to be primarily based on the motor cognition that underpins one's own capacity to act, here defined as motor abstraction. On the basis of this new account of the motor system, it is proposed that intersubjectivity is the best conceived of as intercorporeity.

Author information

Author/s: Gallese, Vittorio (V);

Affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Section of Physiology, University of Parma, Parma, Italy. vittorio.gallese(-atsign-)unipr.it

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Review

Journal: Psychological research (Psychol Res), published in Germany. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Jul; vol 73 (issue 4) : pp 486-98

Dates: Created 2009/06/11; Completed 2009/10/05;

PMID: 19381683, status: MEDLINE (last retrieved date: 10/5/2009)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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