Enhanced activation in the extrastriate body area by goal-directed actions

Aim: Neuroimaging studies on biological motionhave established the view that the posterior superiortemporal sulcus (pSTS) is involved in detectingintention of others. Those studies have consistentlyreported other regions such as body-selective extrastriatebody area (EBA) and motion-sensitive middletemporal, in close proximity to pSTS. Whether EBAresponds only to static body parts or has a moreextended role as part of a system for inferring intentionof others has remained an elusive issue. The aimof the present study was to investigate the role of EBAin processing goal-directed actions.Methods: Twelve healthy volunteers participated inthe present study. Using sports-related motions asvisual stimuli, brain activations were examinedduring observation of goal-directed actions andnon-goal-directed actions on functional magneticresonance imaging.Results: Compared to non-goal-directed actions,goal-directed actions produced greater activations inEBA along with the mirror neuron system.Conclusions: EBA might contribute to understandingothers actions by representing the dynamic aspects ofhuman motions.Key words: extrastriate body area, fMRI, goal-directedactions, mirror neuron system, sports