Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Inferring another's expectation from action: the role of peripheral sensation

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

From Nature Neuroscience

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Abstract

It is unclear how knowledge of one's actions and one's body contribute to the understanding of others' actions. Here we show that two subjects lacking cutaneous touch and sense of movement and position show a selective deficit in interpreting another person's anticipation of weight when seeing him lifting boxes. We suggest that this ability occurs through mental simulation of action dependent on internal motor representations, which require peripheral sensation for their maintenance.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1: Video recording.
Figure 2: Results.
Figure 3: Movement kinematics and weight expectations in the small box condition.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Jeannerod, M. Neuroimage 14, S103–S109 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Wilson, M. & Knoblich, G. Psychol. Bull. 131, 460–473.

  3. Keysers, C. et al. Neuron 42, 335–346 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Cole, J.D. & Sedgwick, E.M. J. Physiol. (Lond) 449, 503–515 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Forget, R. & Lamarre, Y. Hum. Neurobiol. 6, 27–37 (1987).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Runeson, S. & Frykholm, G. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 7, 733–740 (1981).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Hamilton, A., Wolpert, D. & Frith, U. Curr. Biol. 14, 493–498 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Fleury, M. et al. Brain 118, 1149–1156 (1995).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Grèzes, J., Frith, C.D. & Passingham, R.E. Neuroimage 21, 744–750 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Head, H. Studies in Neurology (Oxford University Press, London, 1920).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Ghez, C., Gordon, J. & Ghilardi, M.F. J. Neurophysiol. 73, 361–372 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Miall, R.C., Haggard, P. & Cole, J.D. Exp. Brain Res. 107, 267–280 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Craig, A.D. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 3, 655–666 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Damasio, A. Descartes' Error (Putnam, New York, 1994).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Crawford, J.R. & Howell, D.C. Clin. Neuropsychol. 12, 482–486 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Amalienstr. 33, Munich, 80799, Germany

    Simone Bosbach & Wolfgang Prinz

  2. University of Bournemouth and Poole Hospital, Clinical Neurophysiology, Longfleet Road, Poole, BH15 2JB, UK

    Jonathan Cole

  3. Psychology Department, Rutgers University, 101 Warren Street, Newark, 07102, New Jersey, USA

    Günther Knoblich

Authors
  1. Simone Bosbach
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jonathan Cole
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Wolfgang Prinz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Günther Knoblich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Simone Bosbach.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bosbach, S., Cole, J., Prinz, W. et al. Inferring another's expectation from action: the role of peripheral sensation. Nat Neurosci 8, 1295–1297 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1535

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1535

  • Springer Nature America, Inc.

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation