mirror neurons

• What did rizzolatti et al find?

  Rizzolatti et al (2002) were studying electrical activity in a monkey’s motor cortex when one of the researchers reached for his lunch in view of the monkey.The monkey’s motor cortex became activated in exactly the same way as it did when the animal itself reached for food.Further research revealed that it was in fact the same brain cells that fired when the monkey reached itself or when it watched someone else reach.
• What does a mirror neuron encode?

  encodes the activity of

  another person/animals as if the observer were acting out the same activity.
• who studied intentions in humans (mirror neurons)?

  Iacoboni
• What’s Iacoboni procedure?

  The researchers used fMRI to examine 23 participants as they watched videos of a hand picking up a teacup.
• What were the 3 studies in lacoboni’s study?

  Condition 1 - In one video, the teacup sat on a table amid a pot of tea and plate of cookies (a signal that a tea party was under way and the hand was grasping the cup to take a sip). Condition 2 - In the other video, the

  table was messy and scattered with crumbs (a sign that the party was over and the hand was clearing the table).

  Condition 3 - In a third video the cup was alone, removed from any context (no intention of the cups purpose could be predicted).
• What’s lacoboni findings?

  Observing grasping actions embedded in contexts yielded greater activity in mirror neuron areas in Mirror

  neurons were more active when participants observed actions that had a clear intention (e.g., drinking tea vs. just holding the cup).
• What’s the conclusion from lacoboni?

  This suggests that mirror neurons are not just for copying movements but also help us understand the

  purpose behind actions. This supports the idea that mirror neurons are crucial for social cognition, as they

  allow us to predict and interpret others' behaviours.
• How does mirror neurons underlie perspectiv-taking and ToM?

  If MNs fire in response to others’ actions and

  intentions then this may give us a neural mechanism for understanding other people’s perspectives and emotional states

  Just as we can simulate intention by making

  judgements based on our own reflected motor-

  response, the same information may allow us to

  interpret what others are thinking and feeling
• What does Ramachandran suggest about the evolution of the neurons?

  the evolution of these neurons facilitated the complex social interactions which humans need to perform to live in societies

  MNs enable us to understand intention, emotion and perspective

  which are essential for living in large groups
• What’s the broken mirror theory?

  Dysfunction in the MN system prevents a child with ASD from imitating and understanding social behaviour in others