Neuroimaging Study of the Acquisition of Expertise in Action Recognition

摘要

Recognition of the actions of others is critical in warfare environments and may be particularly important during unconventional warfare. It is unclear, however, how a soldier might become expert in action recognition. Here we examined the hypothesis that expertise in action recognition relies on neural systems involved in performing an action. Participants were trained to perform a difficult, bimanual motor action, or a nonmotor action recognition task, for 25 days. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined changes in neural activity involved in the action recognition network as a function of learning to perform the novel action. Results indicated that learning to perform the motor action was associated with increased fMRI activity in primary motor and ventral premotor cortices, and that these increases were correlated with changes in performance. In contrast, learning the nonmotor action recognition task led to decreased activity in motion processing regions. These findings establish a quantitative link between action performance and neural activity in the action recognition system.