Is the Imitative Competence an Asymmetrically Distributed Function?

Mara Fabri; Chiara Pierpaoli; Nicoletta Foschi; Gabriele Polonara

doi:10.3389/fnsys.2021.791520

Is the Imitative Competence an Asymmetrically Distributed Function?

Front Syst Neurosci. 2021 Dec 24:15:791520. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2021.791520. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Mara Fabri¹, Chiara Pierpaoli², Nicoletta Foschi³, Gabriele Polonara⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy.
² UOST, INPS Casilino-Prenestino, Rome, Italy.
³ Neurological Clinic, Epilepsy Centre, Ancona University Hospital Umberto I, Ancona, Italy.
⁴ Department of Odontostomatologic and Specialized Clinical Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy.

Abstract

This study reconsiders behavioral and functional data from studies investigating the anatomical imitation (AI) and the related mental rotation (MR) competence, carried out by our group in healthy subjects, with intact interhemispheric connections, and in split-brain patients, completely or partially lacking callosal connections. The results strongly point to the conclusion that AI and MR competence requires interhemispheric communication, mainly occurring through the corpus callosum, which is the largest white matter structure in the human brain. The results are discussed in light of previous studies and of future implications.

Keywords: anatomical perspective; corpus callosum; cortical activation; imitation; intransitive gestures; mental rotation; split-brain.