Prof. Angelika Lingnau: The cognitive and neural architecture underlying the representation of observed actions

Abstract

Successful interactions with our environment require that we are able to quickly understand the goals and intentions of other agents. As an example, we may wish to know whether another person is about to greet us with a fist bump or to punch us in the face. What are the cognitive and neural processes underlying this ability to distinguish between different actions despite the fact that they can be performed in various different ways?

 In this talk, I will provide a background regarding the description of observed actions at different hierarchical levels in the macaque brain. Next, I will present several behavioural and human fMRI studies that examine how observed actions are organized behaviourally and neurally. I will end with a discussion regarding the question how these results contribute to our understanding regarding the way we assign meaning to the dynamic world around us.