Movement and mind: A functional imaging study of perception and interpretation of complex intentional movement patterns

We report a functional neuroimaging study with positron emission tomography (PET) in which six healthy adult volunteers were scanned while watching si lent computer-presented animations. The characters in the animations were s imple geometrical shapes whose movement patterns selectively evoked mental state attribution or simple action description. Results showed increased ac tivation in association with mental state attribution in four main regions: medial prefrontal cortex, temporoparietal junction (superior temporal sulc us), basal temporal regions (fusiform gyrus and temporal poles adjacent to the amygdala), and extrastriate cortex (occipital gyrus). Previous imaging studies have implicated these regions in self-monitoring, in the perception of biological motion, and in the attribution of mental states using verbal stimuli or visual depictions of the human form. Ne suggest that these regi ons form a network for processing information about intentions, and specula te that the ability to make inferences about other people's mental states e volved from the ability to make inferences about other creatures' actions. (C) 2000 Academic Press.