Visual perception of actions is supported by a network of brain regions in the occipito-temporal, parietal, and premotor cortex in the primate brain, known as the Action Observation Network (AON). Although there is a growing body of research that characterizes the functional properties of each node of this network, the communication and direction of information flow between the nodes is unclear. According to the predictive coding account of action perception (Kilner, Friston, & Frith, 2007a; 2007b), this network is not a purely feedforward system but has backward connections through which prediction error signals are communicated between the regions of the AON. In the present study, we investigated the effective connectivity of the AON in an experimental setting where the human subjects' predictions about the observed agent were violated, using fMRI and Dynamical Causal Modeling (DCM). We specifically examined the influence of the lowest and highest nodes in the AON hierarchy, pSTS and ventral premotor cortex, respectively, on the middle node, inferior parietal cortex during prediction violation. Our DCM results suggest that the influence on the inferior parietal node is through a feedback connection from ventral premotor cortex during perception of actions that violate people's predictions.

中文翻译：

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动作感知的预测处理说明：来自动作观察网络中有效连接的证据。

灵长类大脑枕颞叶，顶叶和运动前皮层的大脑区域网络支持动作的视觉感知，称为动作观察网络（AON）。尽管有越来越多的研究来描述此网络每个节点的功能特性，但是节点之间的通信和信息流的方向尚不清楚。根据动作感知的预测编码说明（Kilner，Friston和＆Frith，2007a； 2007b），该网络不是纯粹的前馈系统，而是具有后向连接，通过该向后连接可以在AON的各个区域之间传递预测误差信号。在本研究中，我们研究了在实验环境中AON的有效连通性，在该环境中，人类受试者对所观察到的药物的预测遭到了破坏，使用fMRI和动态因果模型（DCM）。我们专门检查了AON层次结构中最低和最高节点，pSTS和腹侧前运动皮层分别对中间节点，下顶叶皮层在预测违反期间的影响。我们的DCM结果表明，对下顶节的影响是通过在感觉到违反人们预测的动作的过程中通过腹侧前运动皮层的反馈连接来实现的。