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Review
. 2021 Feb 18:15:627983.
doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.627983. eCollection 2021.

Characterizing the Action-Observation Network Through Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy: A Review

Emma E Condy  1 , Helga O Miguel  1 , John Millerhagen  1 , Doug Harrison  1 , Kosar Khaksari  1 , Nathan Fox  2 , Amir Gandjbakhche  1
Affiliations
Review

Characterizing the Action-Observation Network Through Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy: A Review

Emma E Condy et al. Front Hum Neurosci. .

Abstract

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a neuroimaging technique that has undergone tremendous growth over the last decade due to methodological advantages over other measures of brain activation. The action-observation network (AON), a system of brain structures proposed to have "mirroring" abilities (e.g., active when an individual completes an action or when they observe another complete that action), has been studied in humans through neural measures such as fMRI and electroencephalogram (EEG); however, limitations of these methods are problematic for AON paradigms. For this reason, fNIRS is proposed as a solution to investigating the AON in humans. The present review article briefly summarizes previous neural findings in the AON and examines the state of AON research using fNIRS in adults. A total of 14 fNIRS articles are discussed, paying particular attention to methodological choices and considerations while summarizing the general findings to aid in developing better protocols to study the AON through fNIRS. Additionally, future directions of this work are discussed, specifically in relation to researching AON development and potential multimodal imaging applications.

Keywords: action-observation; fNIRS; mirror neuron; motor; mu rhythm; neuroimaging.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Literature search and article selection process.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Brain activity associated with action execution (A) and action observation (B) measured using fNIRS in the 14 studies reviewed. Note: the color bar refers to the number of studies for which the brain region was indicated to be activated. Image generated using BrainNet Viewer software (Xia et al., 2013).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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