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Scientists have known for years that neural activity in the brain's motor cortex doesn't just happen when people perform actions. Neurons associated with actions—reaching with a hand to grasp an object, for example—also fire when a person watches someone else perform an action. This observational activity, which underlies a concept known as "mirror neurons," may play a role in how humans and other primates learn to perform physical tasks.

Now, neuroscientists have uncovered new insights into how this observational motor activity works. In a study that recorded the activity of individual neurons as people watched hand-like agents perform actions, the research team found that observational activity is tied to how humanlike the hand performing the action appears to be.

Actions performed by realistic-looking hands elicited the strongest observational response, while robotic hands or more abstract representations were associated with proportionally weaker responses.

The findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that observational neural activity is not the work of specialized mirror neuron cells that light up when watching human actions, but rather an ensemble of neural networks that respond in a graded fashion to different stimuli.

The results could be helpful in designing new brain-controlled assistive devices aimed at restoring function in people affected by paralysis.

The work, part of the BrainGate clinical trial, was led by neuroscientists at Brown University, the Mass General Brigham Center for Neurotechnology and Neurorecovery and the VA Center for Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology.

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