Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37133782›Full record

ArticleBrain topography2023

Activation of Cerebellum, Basal Ganglia and Thalamus During Observation and Execution of Mouth, hand, and foot Actions.

Antonino Errante, Marzio Gerbella, Gloria P Mingolla, Leonardo Fogassi

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Brain topography, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
15citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
7.7field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Combined repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and mirror therapy for upper limb rehabilitation in stroke survivors: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2026
    Pooled it
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  8. Review
  9. Sensorimotor regulation of facial expression - An untouched frontier.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2024
    Review
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  11. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Antonino Errante *Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Via Volturno 39, 43125, Parma, Italy.
Marzio Gerbella *Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Via Volturno 39, 43125, Parma, Italy.
Gloria P MingollaDepartment of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Piazzale Ludovico Antonio Scuro 10, 37124, Verona, Italy.
Leonardo FogassiDepartment of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Via Volturno 39, 43125, Parma, Italy. leonardo.fogassi@unipr.it.
University of Parma · ITUniversity of Verona · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Humans and monkey studies showed that specific sectors of cerebellum and basal ganglia activate not only during execution but also during observation of hand actions. However, it is unknown whether, and how, these structures are engaged during the observation of actions performed by effectors different from the hand. To address this issue, in the present fMRI study, healthy human participants were required to execute or to observe grasping acts performed with different effectors, namely mouth, hand, and foot. As control, participants executed and observed simple movements performed with the same effectors. The results show that: (1) execution of goal-directed actions elicited somatotopically organized activations not only in the cerebral cortex but also in the cerebellum, basal ganglia, and thalamus; (2) action observation evoked cortical, cerebellar and subcortical activations, lacking a clear somatotopic organization; (3) in the territories displaying shared activations between execution and observation, a rough somatotopy could be revealed in both cortical, cerebellar and subcortical structures. The present study confirms previous findings that action observation, beyond the cerebral cortex, also activates specific sectors of cerebellum and subcortical structures and it shows, for the first time, that these latter are engaged not only during hand actions observation but also during the observation of mouth and foot actions. We suggest that each of the activated structures processes specific aspects of the observed action, such as performing internal simulation (cerebellum) or recruiting/inhibiting the overt execution of the observed action (basal ganglia and sensory-motor thalamus).

Indexed as

CerebellumHandBasal GangliaHumansMouthThalamusAction observationBasal gangliacerebellumfMRIMirror neuron systemSomatotopyThalamus

Identifiers

PMID37133782
PMCPMC10293454
OpenAlexW4367834482

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.