The Neurophysiology of Action Perception

Action perception relies on a parieto-premotor brain network engaged during both perception of actions performed by conspecifics and actual execution of actions. Despite important overlap between neural activations during action observation and action execution, the functional relevance of these activities remains debated. In this chapter, we will discuss how the study of action perception may effectively be enriched by applying core principles of motor control. By doing so, we present evidences in favour of: (i) the presence of a modular control strategy in action observation; (ii) the role of motor inhibition in coping with unpredictable action outcomes. We conclude that reaffirming the strong parallel with motor control would provide important insight into the investigation of action perception mechanisms.