Please cite this article in press as: Calmels C, et al. Can we simulate an action that we temporarily cannot perform? Neurophysiologie Clinique/Clinical Neurophysiology (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neucli.2014.08.004 ARTICLE IN PRESS +Model NEUCLI-2449; No. of Pages 13 Neurophysiologie Clinique/Clinical Neurophysiology (2014) xxx, xxx—xxx Disponible en ligne sur ScienceDirect www.sciencedirect.com ORIGINAL ARTICLE/ ARTICLE ORIGINAL Can we simulate an action that we temporarily cannot perform? Pouvons-nous simuler une action que nous sommes temporairement dans l’incapacité d’exécuter ? C. Calmels a,* , S. Pichon b,c , J. Grèzes d,e a Institut national du sport, de l’expertise et de la performance, département recherche, laboratoire SEP, Paris, France b Laboratory for Behavioral Neurology and Imaging of Cognition, Department of Neuroscience, Medical School, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland c Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland d LNC, INSERM U960, IEC, École Normale Supérieure, Paris, France e UMR-S975, Inserm U975, CNRS UMR7225, Centre de Neuroimagerie de Recherche — CENIR, Centre de Recherche de l’Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière, Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris 6, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France Received 23 September 2013; accepted 6 August 2014 KEYWORDS Action observation network; Motor injury; Motor expert performers; fMRI Summary Aims of the study. — The scope of individuals’ motor repertoire and expertise influences the way they perceive the actions of others. When observing skilled actions, experts recruit the cortical network subserving action perception (action observation network, AON) to a greater extent than non-experts. However, it remains unknown whether and how a temporary motor injury affects activation within the AON. Materials and methods. — To investigate this issue, brain hemodynamic activity was recorded twice in thirteen national female gymnasts suffering from a lower extremity injury at the onset of the experiment. The gymnasts were scanned one month after the injury and were shown gymnastics routines they were able and temporarily unable to perform. Six months later, after complete recovery, they were scanned again and shown the same routines they were now able to practice. Results. — Results showed: first, that the level of activity within the inferior parietal lobule and MT/V5/EBA (extrastriate body area), areas constitutive of the AON, was independent of the gymnasts’ physical condition. Second, when gymnasts were hurt (vs. when recovered), higher activity in the cerebellum was detected. ∗ Corresponding author. Service recherche, Institut National du Sport, de l’Expertise et de la Performance, 11, avenue du Tremblay, 75012 Paris, France. Tel.: +33 1 41 74 43 73; fax: +33 1 41 74 45 35. E-mail address: claire.calmels@insep.fr (C. Calmels). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neucli.2014.08.004 0987-7053/© 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.