PREMOTOR CORTEX AND THE RECOGNITION OF MOTOR ACTIONS

In area F5 of the monkey premotor cortex there are neurons that discha rge both when the monkey performs an action and when he observes a sim ilar action made by another monkey or by the experimenter. We report h ere some of the properties of these 'mirror' neurons and we propose th at their activity 'represents' the observed action. We posit, then, th at this motor representation is at the basis of the understanding of m otor events. Finally, on the basis of some recent data showing that, i n man, the observation of motor actions activate the posterior part of inferior frontal gyrus, we suggest that the development of the latera l verbal communication system in man derives from a more ancient commu nication system based on recognition of hand and face gestures.