Visuo-motor imagery of specific manual actions: A multi-variate pattern analysis fMRI study

An important human capacity is the ability to imagine performing an action, and its consequences, without actually executing it. Here we seek neural representations of specific manual actions that are common across visuo-motor performance and imagery. Participants were scanned with fMRI while they performed and observed themselves performing two different manual actions during some trials, and imagined performing and observing themselves performing the same actions during other trials. We used multi-variate pattern analysis to identify areas where representations of specific actions generalize across imagined and performed actions. The left anterior parietal cortex showed this property. In this region, we also found that activity patterns for imagined actions generalize better to performed actions than vice versa, and we provide simulation results that can explain this asymmetry. The present results are the first demonstration of action-specific representations that are similar irrespective of whether actions are actively performed or covertly imagined. Further, they demonstrate concretely how the apparent cross-modal visuo-motor coding of actions identified in studies of a human “mirror neuron system” could, at least partially, reflect imagery. ► We applied fMRI with MVPA to investigate coding of imagined and performed actions. ► Left anterior parietal cortex showed common imagined-performed coding for specific actions. ► Action-specific representations can be elicited by imagery alone. ► Apparent visuo-motor coding–by a human ‘mirror neuron system’–may partially be driven by imagery.