Actions with identical goals can be performed with different dynamic forms, also named vitality forms (VFs). For example, one can pass a bottle resolutely or delicately, just as one can shake a hand coldly or warmly. Notably, VFs convey information on the agent’s attitudes toward the receiver. Our fMRI studies provided evidence that the dorso-central insula and the middle cingulate cortex are the brain regions selectively involved in both the observation and execution of VFs. It is plausible that, during social interactions, this mechanism could allow the observer to understand the affective state of others through the encoding of VFs, and then, the remapping of this information on his motor schema would allow him to prepare an appropriate motor response. Our recent kinematic data corroborate this hypothesis, showing that a positive or negative attitude expressed by an agent through voice or gestures, affects the subsequent motor response of the receiver. To date, besides neuroscience, the study of VFs is involving different research fields including clinic and robotics. For example, an interesting issue is to understand whether and how individuals with social and communicative disorders such as children with ASD perceive and express these fundamental aspects of social communication. Another fascinating issue concerns the possibility to endow humanoids such as the iCub robot with the capacity to express gentle and rude actions aiming to study humans’ reaction. By departing from current mainstream, this talk proposes to raise new questions and inspire a new wave of empirical studies.
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