Study of the mirror neuron network through functional connectivity

This study suggests a new approach to examine mirror neuron network (MNN) using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS). Instead of looking at the averaged cerebral hemodynamic change during the action-observation and action-execution, we correlated the connectivity during the tasks across all subjects. We found 8 within region connections and 7 between regions connections in the precentral, postcentral, angular, and parietal lobes, which can be part of the MNN. These connections satisfy conditions of having a strong connectivity in both action-observation and action-execution task and a significant correlation between the connectivity during both tasks. This study results are consistent with previous studies.