Latent imitation of human movements presented on a videoscopic screen, disclosed by EEG mapping in the spectators

Trend to imitate human mouvement is studied here by EEG mapping. The effects of three kinds of situations are compared : a movement an a TV screen is presented to the subject, a movement is realized by the experimenter in front of the subject, the subject is asked to perform a movement. These three situations elicited important modifications in alpha 1 rythms over the centroparietal area of the scalp. These results are discussed according to neurophysiological and neuropsychological data, including the possible role of frontal lobe in imitation. Preliminary experiments in psychopathology concern imitation disturbances in autistic children.