Journal
CEREBRAL CORTEX
Volume 21, Issue 2, Pages 318-329Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhq098
Keywords
extrastriate cortex; functional imaging; human; MTG; vision
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Funding
- Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek [G.0730.09]
- Inter-University Pole of Attraction [6/29]
- Excellentie Financiering [05/14]
- Neurocom [EU-NEST 012738]
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Performing goal-directed actions toward an object in accordance with contextual constraints, such as the presence or absence of an obstacle, has been widely used as a paradigm for assessing the capacity of infants or nonhuman primates to evaluate the rationality of others' actions. Here, we have used this paradigm in a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment to visualize the cortical regions involved in the assessment of action rationality while controlling for visual differences in the displays and directly correlating magnetic resonance activity with rationality ratings. Bilateral middle temporal gyrus (MTG) regions, anterior to extrastriate body area and the human middle temporal complex, were involved in the visual evaluation of action rationality. These MTG regions are embedded in the superior temporal sulcus regions processing the kinematics of observed actions. Our results suggest that rationality is assessed initially by purely visual computations, combining the kinematics of the action with the physical constraints of the environmental context. The MTG region seems to be sensitive to the contingent relationship between a goal-directed biological action and its relevant environmental constraints, showing increased activity when the expected pattern of rational goal attainment is violated.
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