Pragmatic representations of self- and others action in the monkey putamen

Abstract

Social coordination in primates relies on parieto-frontal networks encoding self- and others actions. These areas send convergent projections to the putamen, but its role in representing self- and others actions remains unknown. We recorded neuronal activity from anatomically characterized putamen regions during a Mutual Action Task (MAT), where a monkey and a human took turns grasping a multi-affordance object based on sensory cues. Cortico-striatal synaptic input, indexed by local field potentials, mirrored known cortical dynamics during sensory instructions and movement, while single neurons selectively encoded the monkeys action, the humans action, or both. Grip type was encoded only during the monkeys trials. Viewing the partners action was neither necessary nor sufficient: neurons fired even when the partners action occurred in darkness, but not when viewed through a transparent barrier. These findings support a pragmatic role for the putamen in gating cortical representations of self- and others actions in social contexts.