CiteULike: oamg's observational_learning

The neural substrate of human empathy: effects of perspective-taking and cognitive appraisal.

C Lamm — 2007-10-29T20:07:34-00:00

J Cogn Neurosci, Vol. 19, No. 1. (January 2007), pp. 42-58.

Whether observation of distress in others leads to empathic concern and altruistic motivation, or to personal distress and egoistic motivation, seems to depend upon the capacity for self-other differentiation and cognitive appraisal. In this experiment, behavioral measures and event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging were used to investigate the effects of perspective-taking and cognitive appraisal while participants observed the facial expression of pain resulting from medical treatment. Video clips showing the faces of patients were presented either with the instruction to imagine the feelings of the patient ("imagine other") or to imagine oneself to be in the patient's situation ("imagine self"). Cognitive appraisal was manipulated by providing information that the medical treatment had or had not been successful. Behavioral measures demonstrated that perspective-taking and treatment effectiveness instructions affected participants' affective responses to the observed pain. Hemodynamic changes were detected in the insular cortices, anterior medial cingulate cortex (aMCC), amygdala, and in visual areas including the fusiform gyrus. Graded responses related to the perspective-taking instructions were observed in middle insula, aMCC, medial and lateral premotor areas, and selectively in left and right parietal cortices. Treatment effectiveness resulted in signal changes in the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex, in the ventromedial orbito-frontal cortex, in the right lateral middle frontal gyrus, and in the cerebellum. These findings support the view that humans' responses to the pain of others can be modulated by cognitive and motivational processes, which influence whether observing a conspecific in need of help will result in empathic concern, an important instigator for helping behavior.

Observational learning: effects of bandwidth knowledge of results.

A Badets — 2007-07-13T19:07:03-00:00

J Mot Behav, Vol. 37, No. 3. (May 2005), pp. 211-216.

The authors investigated whether bandwidth knowledge of results (KR) during observation of a model's performance enhances motor skill learning. Following a pretest, 2 groups of participants (N = 28) observed a model practicing a timing task. The bandwidth group received KR about the model's performance only when his performance fell outside the criteria for a correct response. The yoked group received KR on the same trials as the bandwidth group did but were not told that the KR was only about incorrect performances. In that way, the authors avoided a confound between bandwidth and relative frequency effects on performance and learning. Following the observation phase, both groups of participants performed 10-min and 24-hr retention tests. Bandwidth KR enabled that group to reduce its performance variability and, to a lesser extent, to enhance its performance accuracy. The authors discuss the results with respect to the powerful effect of qualitative KR through observation.

The mirror neuron system is more active during complementary compared with imitative action

Rd Newman-Norlund — 2007-06-08T15:28:12-00:00

Nature Neuroscience (2007)

We assessed the role of the human mirror neuron system (MNS) in complementary actions using functional magnetic resonance imaging while participants prepared to execute imitative or complementary actions. The BOLD signal in the right inferior frontal gyrus and bilateral inferior parietal lobes was greater during preparation of complementary than during imitative actions, suggesting that the MNS may be essential in dynamically coupling action observation to action execution.

Cortico-striatal contributions to feedback-based learning: converging data from neuroimaging and neuropsychology.

D Shohamy — 2007-06-01T16:17:16-00:00

Brain, Vol. 127, No. Pt 4. (April 2004), pp. 851-859.

The striatum has been widely implicated in cognition, but a precise understanding of its role remains elusive. Here we present converging evidence for the role of the striatum in feedback-based learning. In a prior functional imaging study, healthy controls showed striatal activity during a feedback-based learning task, which was decreased when the same task was learned without feedback. In the present study, we show that individuals with striatal dysfunction due to Parkinson's disease are impaired on the feedback-based task, but not on a non-feedback version of the same task. Parkinson's patients and controls also used different learning strategies depending on feedback structure. This study provides direct behavioural evidence from humans that cortico-striatal systems are necessary for feedback-based learning on a cognitive task. These findings also link between learning impairments in Parkinson's disease and the physiological and computational evidence for the role of midbrain dopaminergic systems in feedback processing.

Constraints on Great Apes' Imitation: Model and Action Selectivity in Rehabilitant Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) Imitation

Anne Russon — 2007-05-24T18:03:14-00:00

Journal of Comparative Psychology, Vol. 109, No. 1. (1995)

We discuss selectivity in great ape imitation, on the basis of an observational study of spontaneous imitation in free-ranging rehabilitant orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus). Research on great ape imitation has neglected selectivity, although comparative evidence suggests it may be important. We observed orangutans in central Indonesian Borneo and assessed patterns in the models and actions they spontaneously imitated. The patterns we found resembled those reported in humans. Orangutans preferred models with whom they had positive affective relationships (e.g., important caregiver or older sibling) and actions that reflected their current competence, were receptively familiar, and were relevant to tasks that faced them. Both developmental and individual variability were found. We discuss the probable functions of imitation for great apes and the role of selectivity in directing it. We also make suggestions for more effective elicitation of imitation.

Dissociation between Striatal Regions while Learning to Categorize via Feedback and via Observation

Corinna Cincotta — 2007-05-16T15:42:45-00:00

J. Cogn. Neurosci., Vol. 19, No. 2. (1 February 2007), pp. 249-265.

Convergent evidence from functional imaging and from neuropsychological studies of basal ganglia disorders indicates that the striatum is involved in learning to categorize visual stimuli with feedback. However, it is unclear which cognitive process or processes involved in categorization is or are responsible for striatal recruitment; different regions of the striatum have been linked to feedback processing and to acquisition of stimulus-category associations. We examined the effect of the presence of feedback during learning on striatal recruitment by comparing feedback learning with observational learning of an information integration task. In the feedback task, participants were shown a stimulus, made a button press response, and then received feedback as to whether they had made the correct response. In the observational task, participants were given the category label before the stimulus appeared and then made a button press indicating the correct category membership. A region-of-interest analysis was used to examine activity in three regions of the striatum: the head of the caudate, body and tail of the caudate, and the putamen. Activity in the left head of the caudate was modulated by the presence of feedback: The magnitude of activation change was greater during feedback learning than during observational learning. In contrast, the bilateral body and tail of the caudate and the putamen were active to a similar degree in both feedback and observational learning. This pattern of results supports a functional dissociation between regions of the striatum, such that the head of the caudate is involved in feedback processing, whereas the body and tail of the caudate and the putamen are involved in learning stimulus-category associations. The hippocampus was active bilaterally during both feedback and observational learning, indicating potential parallel involvement with the striatum in information integration category learning.

Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory

Albert Bandura — 2006-01-04T05:58:24-00:00

(01 October 1985)

Teaching in wild meerkats.

A Thornton — 2007-04-02T20:45:53-00:00

Science, Vol. 313, No. 5784. (14 July 2006), pp. 227-229.

Despite the obvious benefits of directed mechanisms that facilitate the efficient transfer of skills, there is little critical evidence for teaching in nonhuman animals. Using observational and experimental data, we show that wild meerkats (Suricata suricatta) teach pups prey-handling skills by providing them with opportunities to interact with live prey. In response to changing pup begging calls, helpers alter their prey-provisioning methods as pups grow older, thus accelerating learning without the use of complex cognition. The lack of evidence for teaching in species other than humans may reflect problems in producing unequivocal support for the occurrence of teaching, rather than the absence of teaching.

Observational and Incidental Learning by Children with Autism during Small Group Instruction.

Jennifer Ledford — 2007-04-02T20:41:20-00:00

J Autism Dev Disord (9 March 2007)

This study evaluated the acquisition of incidental and observational information presented to 6 children with autism in a small group instructional arrangement using a constant time delay (CTD) procedure. A multiple probe design across behaviors, replicated across 6 participants, was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the CTD procedure and to assess each student's ability to read another student's words and identify related pictures. Generalization was assessed in natural conditions using a pre- and post-test paradigm. Results indicate that, despite their documented deficits in social awareness and imitation, students learned observational and incidental information during small group instruction. Educational implications with regard to small group instruction are discussed.

What is modelled during observational learning?

NJ Hodges — 2007-04-02T20:38:05-00:00

J Sports Sci, Vol. 25, No. 5. (1 March 2007), pp. 531-545.

In this article, we examine the question of what information is processed during observational learning by evaluating a variety of methods, theories, and empirical data. Initially, we review work involving neuroimaging techniques and infant imitation. We then evaluate data from behavioural experiments involving adults, wherein a variety of attempts have been made to isolate the critical or minimal information constraining the acquisition of coordination. This body of research has included comparisons between video and point-light displays, manipulations to the amount and type of information presented in the display, the collection of point-of-gaze data, and manipulations to the task context in terms of outcome goals. We conclude that observational learning is governed by specific features of the model's action (i.e. motions of the end effector) and the task (i.e. outcome constraints) and, in contrast with traditional theoretical modelling, more global aspects of a model (i.e. the relative motions within and between joints) do not appear to be the primary method for constraining action execution.

Interactive memory systems in the human brain

RA Poldrack — 2007-04-02T13:20:35-00:00

Nature, Vol. 414, No. 6863. (29 November 2001), pp. 546-550.

Perspective Taking Promotes Action Understanding and Learning

Sandra Lozano — 2007-02-15T03:55:58-00:00

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, Vol. 32, No. 6. (December 2006), pp. 1405-1421.

People often learn actions by watching others. The authors propose and test the hypothesis that perspective taking promotes encoding a hierarchical representation of an actor's goals and subgoals--a key process for observational learning. Observers segmented videos of an object assembly task into coarse and fine action units. They described what happened in each unit from either the actor's, their own, or another observer's perspective and later performed the assembly task themselves. Participants who described the task from the actor's perspective encoded actions more hierarchically during observation and learned the task better.

Modulation of neural activity during observational learning of actions and their sequential orders.

SH Frey — 2007-02-27T03:48:15-00:00

J Neurosci, Vol. 26, No. 51. (20 December 2006), pp. 13194-13201.

How does the brain transform perceptual representations of others' actions into motor representations that can be used to guide behavior? Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to record human brain activity while subjects watched others construct multipart objects under varied task demands. We find that relative to resting baseline, passive action observation increases activity within inferior frontal and parietal cortices implicated in action encoding (mirror system) and throughout a distributed network of areas involved in motor representation, including dorsal premotor cortex, pre-supplementary motor area, cerebellum, and basal ganglia (experiments 1 and 2). Relative to passive observation, these same areas show increased activity when subjects observe with the intention to subsequently reproduce component actions using the demonstrated sequential procedures (experiment 1). Observing the same actions with the intention of reproducing component actions, but without the requirement to use the demonstrated sequential procedure, increases activity in the same regions, although to a lesser degree (experiment 2). These findings demonstrate that when attempting to learn behaviors through observation, the observers' intentions modulate responses in a widely distributed network of cortical and subcortical regions implicated previously in action encoding and/or motor representation. Among these regions, only activity within the right intraparietal sulcus predicts the accuracy with which observed procedures are subsequently performed. Successful formation of motor representations of sequential procedures through observational learning is dependent on computations implemented within this parietal region.

End-point focus manipulations to determine what information is used during observational learning.

Spencer J Hayes — 2007-02-27T03:47:43-00:00

Acta Psychol (Amst) (2 January 2007)

We required two groups of participants to observe an end-point model (ENDPT) while another two groups viewed a full-body, point-light model (FULL) to determine the role of relative motion information in acquisition of a multi-limb, whole-body action. One ENDPT and one FULL group also bowled a ball. Following retention, all groups observed the FULL model. The participants' movements were compared to the model and outcome attainment was quantified. There was no difference in shoulder-elbow coordination between groups in acquisition or retention. The FULL groups replicated hip-knee coordination more accurately than did ENDPT groups in early acquisition only, with no significant differences in late acquisition or retention. Both bowling groups became more accurate at the task across acquisition, but the ENDPT group was more accurate and consistent in retention. Providing intra-limb relative motion in re-acquisition did not improve coordination for the ENDPT groups, but it did facilitate movement control (peak wrist velocity) and outcome attainment (target accuracy). The acquisition of coordination during observational learning is not only a result of copying relative motion information, but also involves copying of end-point trajectory information from the primary effector.

Feedback-based versus observational classification learning in healthy aging and Parkinson's disease.

Julia Schmitt-Eliassen — 2007-02-27T03:44:39-00:00

Brain Res (20 January 2007)

Previous studies underline the role of dopamine in cognitive reinforcement learning. This has been demonstrated by a striatal involvement in feedback-based probabilistic classification learning. In order to determine to which extent the dopaminergic loss of Parkinson's disease and aging affects the feedback aspect in classification learning, we applied two versions of the same visual classification task. One version had to be learnt by trial-by-trial feedback, the other by observing the correct assignment of stimulus and category. Performance was evaluated in test blocks that were identical under the feedback and the observational conditions. There were 31 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), 30 older controls and 20 younger controls tested. The results show that younger healthy participants perform better than older participants in the classification task and this difference significantly interacts with the learning condition: both groups show nearly the same level of performance under the observational condition but younger participants show a better performance than older ones under the feedback condition. In contrast, PD patients and older controls did not differ in their performance in the classification task; both groups performed better under the observational than under the feedback condition. These results demonstrate that healthy aging affects feedback-based learning but does not affect learning by observation. The fact that PD patients showed no additional deficit in feedback-based learning is an indication that the loss of dopamine does not play the key role under the feedback condition of our classification task. This finding questions the general role of the striatum in feedback-based learning and demonstrates that healthy aging particularly affects feedback-based learning.

Dissociation between Striatal Regions while Learning to Categorize via Feedback and via Observation.

CM Cincotta — 2007-02-27T03:12:26-00:00

J Cogn Neurosci, Vol. 19, No. 2. (February 2007), pp. 249-265.

Convergent evidence from functional imaging and from neuropsychological studies of basal ganglia disorders indicates that the striatum is involved in learning to categorize visual stimuli with feedback. However, it is unclear which cognitive process or processes involved in categorization is or are responsible for striatal recruitment; different regions of the striatum have been linked to feedback processing and to acquisition of stimulus-category associations. We examined the effect of the presence of feedback during learning on striatal recruitment by comparing feedback learning with observational learning of an information integration task. In the feedback task, participants were shown a stimulus, made a button press response, and then received feedback as to whether they had made the correct response. In the observational task, participants were given the category label before the stimulus appeared and then made a button press indicating the correct category membership. A region-of-interest analysis was used to examine activity in three regions of the striatum: the head of the caudate, body and tail of the caudate, and the putamen. Activity in the left head of the caudate was modulated by the presence of feedback: The magnitude of activation change was greater during feedback learning than during observational learning. In contrast, the bilateral body and tail of the caudate and the putamen were active to a similar degree in both feedback and observational learning. This pattern of results supports a functional dissociation between regions of the striatum, such that the head of the caudate is involved in feedback processing, whereas the body and tail of the caudate and the putamen are involved in learning stimulus-category associations. The hippocampus was active bilaterally during both feedback and observational learning, indicating potential parallel involvement with the striatum in information integration category learning.

Food-Caching Western Scrub-Jays Keep Track of Who Was Watching When

Joanna Dally — 2006-07-24T13:59:25-00:00

Science, Vol. 312, No. 5780. (16 June 2006), pp. 1662-1665.

Western scrub-jays (Aphelocoma californica) hide food caches for future consumption, steal others' caches, and engage in tactics to minimize the chance that their own caches will be stolen. We show that scrub-jays remember which individual watched them during particular caching events and alter their recaching behavior accordingly. We found no evidence to suggest that a storer's use of cache protection tactics is cued by the observer's behavior. 10.1126/science.1126539

Functional imaging of face and hand imitation: towards a motor theory of empathy

Kenneth Leslie — 2005-05-26T13:03:28-00:00

NeuroImage, Vol. 21, No. 2. (February 2004), pp. 601-607.

Empathy requires the ability to map the feelings of others onto our own nervous system. Until recently, there was no plausible mechanism to explain how such a mapping might occur. The discovery of mirror neurons, however, suggests that the nervous system is capable of mapping the observed actions of others onto the premotor cortex of the self, at least for reaching and grasping movements. Is there a mirroring system for emotive actions, such as facial expression? Subjects (N = 15; all right-handed; eight men, seven women) watched movies of facial expressions (smile or frown) and hand movements (move index or middle finger) while brain activity was imaged using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Subjects watched the movies under three different conditions: passive viewing, active imitation, and an active motor control. Subjects also performed a verb generation task to functionally identify language-processing areas. We found evidence for a common cortical imitation circuit for both face and hand imitation, consisting of Broca's area, bilateral dorsal and ventral premotor areas, right superior temporal gyrus (STG), supplementary motor area, posterior temporo-occipital cortex, and cerebellar areas. For faces, passive viewing led to significant activation in the right ventral premotor area, whereas imitation produced bilateral activation. This result is consistent with evidence for right hemisphere (RH) dominance for emotional processing, and suggests that there may be a right hemisphere mirroring system that could provide a neural substrate for empathy.

Rhesus Monkeys Attribute Perception to Others

JI Flombaum — 2005-03-08T17:42:10-00:00

Current Biology, Vol. 15 (8 March 2005), pp. 447-452.

Paramount among human cognitive abilities is the capacity to reason about what others think, want, and see—a capacity referred to as a theory of mind (ToM). Despite its importance in human cognition, the extent to which other primates share human ToM capacities has for decades remained a mystery. To date, primates [1 and 2] have performed poorly in behavioral tasks that require ToM abilities, despite the fact that some macaques are known to encode social stimuli at the level of single neurons [3, 4 and 5]. Here, we presented rhesus macaques with a more ecologically relevant ToM task in which subjects could "steal" a contested grape from one of two human competitors. In six experiments, monkeys selectively retrieved the grape from an experimenter who was incapable of seeing the grape rather than an experimenter who was visually aware. These results suggest that rhesus macaques possess an essential component of ToM: the ability to deduce what others perceive on the basis of where they are looking. These results converge with new findings illustrating the importance of competitive paradigms in apes [6]. Moreover, they raise the possibility that, in primates, cortical cells thought to encode where others are looking [7] may encode what those individuals see as well. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VRT-4FN1050-V&_coverDate=03%2F08%2F2005&_alid=254261226&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_qd=1&_cdi=6243&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000000333&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=30681&md5=e16e50666fcfb2826cc0416615a20fff

The motor theory of social cognition: a critique.

P Jacob — 2005-02-26T20:55:45-00:00

Trends Cogn Sci, Vol. 9, No. 1. (January 2005), pp. 21-25.

Recent advances in the cognitive neuroscience of action have considerably enlarged our understanding of human motor cognition. In particular, the activity of the mirror system, first discovered in the brain of non-human primates, provides an observer with the understanding of a perceived action by means of the motor simulation of the agent's observed movements. This discovery has raised the prospects of a motor theory of social cognition. In humans, social cognition includes the ability to mindread, and many motor theorists of social cognition try to bridge the gap between motor cognition and mindreading by endorsing a simulation account of mindreading. Here, we question the motor theory of social cognition and give reasons for our skepticism.

Mirror neurons responding to the observation of ingestive and communicative mouth actions in the monkey ventral premotor cortex.

PF Ferrari — 2005-02-26T20:53:02-00:00

Eur J Neurosci, Vol. 17, No. 8. (April 2003), pp. 1703-1714.

In the ventral premotor cortex (area F5) of the monkey there are neurons that discharge both when the monkey performs specific motor actions and when it observes another individual performing a similar action (mirror neurons). Previous studies on mirror neurons concerned hand actions. Here, we describe the mirror responses of F5 neurons that motorically code mouth actions. The results showed that about one-third of mouth motor neurons also discharge when the monkey observes another individual performing mouth actions. The majority of these 'mouth mirror neurons' become active during the execution and observation of mouth actions related to ingestive functions such as grasping, sucking or breaking food. Another population of mouth mirror neurons also discharges during the execution of ingestive actions, but the most effective visual stimuli in triggering them are communicative mouth gestures (e.g. lip smacking). Some also fire when the monkey makes communicative gestures. These findings extend the notion of mirror system from hand to mouth action and suggest that area F5, the area considered to be the homologue of human Broca's area, is also involved in communicative functions.

Listening to talking faces: motor cortical activation during speech perception

Jeremy Skipper — 2005-02-26T20:20:51-00:00

NeuroImage, Vol. 25, No. 1. (March 2005), pp. 76-89.

Neurophysiological research suggests that understanding the actions of others harnesses neural circuits that would be used to produce those actions directly. We used fMRI to examine brain areas active during language comprehension in which the speaker was seen and heard while talking (audiovisual) or heard but not seen (audio-alone) or when the speaker was seen talking with the audio track removed (video-alone). We found that audiovisual speech perception activated a network of brain regions that included cortical motor areas involved in planning and executing speech production and areas subserving proprioception related to speech production. These regions included the posterior part of the superior temporal gyrus and sulcus, the pars opercularis, premotor cortex, adjacent primary motor cortex, somatosensory cortex, and the cerebellum. Activity in premotor cortex and posterior superior temporal gyrus and sulcus was modulated by the amount of visually distinguishable phonemes in the stories. None of these regions was activated to the same extent in the audio- or video-alone conditions. These results suggest that integrating observed facial movements into the speech perception process involves a network of multimodal brain regions associated with speech production and that these areas contribute less to speech perception when only auditory signals are present. This distributed network could participate in recognition processing by interpreting visual information about mouth movements as phonetic information based on motor commands that could have generated those movements.

PLoS Biology: Predicting the Future: Mirror Neurons Reflect the Intentions of Others

2005-02-26T19:59:04-00:00