Using the subspace identification technique, we identify a finite dimensional, dynamical model of a recently developed prototype of a thermally actuated deformable mirror (TADM). The main advantage of the identified model over the models described by partial differential equations is its low complexity and low dimensionality. Consequently, the identified model can be easily used for high-perfor...

We investigated the effect of perspective on the recognition of actions, without using motor preparation. Photographs of a hand wearing a glove were presented as primes, followed by photographs of the same hand interacting with an object. Both primes and targets were shown in egocentric or non-egocentric perspective. Participants had to decide whether or not the hand interacted with the object ...

How are body representations updated when we perform joint rhythmic actions, such as when a jazz player synchronizes with other musicians in the ensemble? We investigated this question using a continuous tapping task where musicians and non-musicians were instructed to imitate bimanual hand movements presented in the egocentric and the mirror orientation. The observed movements increased in tem...

New single-cell recordings show that humans do have mirror neurons, and in more brain regions than previously suspected. Some action-execution neurons were seen to be inhibited during observation, possibly preventing imitation and helping self/other discrimination.

Since its original proposal, mirror therapy has been established as a successful neurorehabilitative intervention in several neurological disorders to recover motor function or to relieve pain. Mirror therapy seems to operate by reactivating the contralesional representation of the non-mirrored limb in primary motor- and somatosensory cortex. However, mirror boxes have some limitations which pr...

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 th...

Mirror neurons discharge during the execution of hand object-directed actions and during the observation of the same actions performed by other individuals. These neurons were first identified in the ventral premotor cortex (area F5) and later on in the inferior parietal lobule of monkey brain, thus constituting the mirror neuron system. More recently, mirror neurons for mouth object-directed a...