Experience with an amputee modulates one's own sensorimotor response during action observation

► fMRI recorded brain activity when viewing an amputee before/after visual experience. ► Greater activity in sensorimotor regions when viewing amputee initially. ► Greater right inferior parietal lobule correlates with participants' trait empathy. ► After experience, similar responses to both residual limb and hand actions. ► Action observation network flexibly represents even impossible actions.