The study investigates the neural mechanisms underlying the understanding of others' intentions through the observation of their actions. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), 23 subjects watched three types of stimuli: grasping hand actions without context, context-only scenes, and grasping hand actions performed in two different contexts (drinking or cleaning). The results show that observing grasping actions embedded in contexts, compared to other conditions, increased activity in the posterior part of the inferior frontal gyrus and the adjacent sector of the ventral premotor cortex. This suggests that the premotor mirror neuron system, initially thought to be involved only in action recognition, also plays a role in understanding others' intentions. The study further demonstrates that the right inferior frontal cortex, a region known to have mirror neuron properties, shows increased activity when observing grasping actions in contexts that cue the intention behind the action. This indicates that the mirror neuron system not only recognizes the type of action but also codes the global intention associated with the observed action. The findings support the idea that the motor system automatically infers the upcoming goal of an action, which is crucial for social behavior.The study investigates the neural mechanisms underlying the understanding of others' intentions through the observation of their actions. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), 23 subjects watched three types of stimuli: grasping hand actions without context, context-only scenes, and grasping hand actions performed in two different contexts (drinking or cleaning). The results show that observing grasping actions embedded in contexts, compared to other conditions, increased activity in the posterior part of the inferior frontal gyrus and the adjacent sector of the ventral premotor cortex. This suggests that the premotor mirror neuron system, initially thought to be involved only in action recognition, also plays a role in understanding others' intentions. The study further demonstrates that the right inferior frontal cortex, a region known to have mirror neuron properties, shows increased activity when observing grasping actions in contexts that cue the intention behind the action. This indicates that the mirror neuron system not only recognizes the type of action but also codes the global intention associated with the observed action. The findings support the idea that the motor system automatically infers the upcoming goal of an action, which is crucial for social behavior.