Journal
HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING
Volume 36, Issue 3, Pages 1010-1027Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/hbm.22682
Keywords
motor control; mirror neurons; Broca's area; language; functional magnetic resonance imaging; intraoperative brain mapping
Funding
- Ricerca Finalizzata [RF-2009-1530888]
- Associazione Italiana Ricerca sul Cancro (AIRC)
- Fondazione Berlucchi
- Italian Ministry of Health
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Mirror neurons, originally described in the monkey premotor area F5, are embedded in a frontoparietal network for action execution and observation. A similar Mirror Neuron System (MNS) exists in humans, including precentral gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, and superior temporal sulcus. Controversial is the inclusion of Broca's area, as homologous to F5, a relevant issue in light of the mirror hypothesis of language evolution, which postulates a key role of Broca's area in action/speech perception/production. We assess mirror properties of this area by combining neuroimaging and intraoperative neurophysiological techniques. Our results show that Broca's area is minimally involved in action observation and has no motor output on hand or phonoarticulatory muscles, challenging its inclusion in the MNS. The presence of these functions in premotor BA6 makes this area the likely homologue of F5 suggesting that the MNS may be involved in the representation of articulatory rather than semantic components of speech. Hum Brain Mapp 36:1010-1027, 2015.(c) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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