The Importance of the Affective Component of Movement in Action Understanding

Abstract

Social interactions require the ability to evaluate the attitudes of others according to the way in which actions are performed. For example, a hand gesture can be kind or vigorous or the tone of voice can be pleasant or rude providing information about the attitude of the agent. Daniel Stern called these aspects of social communication vitality forms. Vitality forms continuously pervade the life of individuals and play a fundamental role in social relations. Despite the importance of vitality forms, very little is known on their neural basis. The aim of the present chapter is to provide an overview of the neural substrates underpinning the encoding of these aspects of social communication. This chapter is organized in four sections. Section 6.1 describes the structural and functional domains of the insular cortex. Section 6.2 provides evidence that the dorso-central insula plays a central role in the perception and expression of action vitality forms. Section 6.3 demonstrates that the same insular sector is also involved in the perception of words conveying gentle and rude vitality forms. Finally, Sect. 6.4 discusses the important role of vitality forms in social interactions and proposes some future perspectives.