the mirror neuron system

• the mirror neuron system

  • consists fall special brain cells called mirror neuron's distributed in several areas of the brain, they are unique as they fire both in response to personal action and in response to action on the parts of others, allowing us to interpret intentions and emotions in others
• RIZZOLATTI (2002) mirror neurons in monkeys

  • studying electrical activity in a monkey's motor cortex (controls movement) when a researcher reached for his lunch the exact same way as if the money reached for the food itself
  • further research revealed the same brain cells that fired when the monkey reached for itself or watched someone else reach - called these mirror neurons as they mirror motor activity in another individual
• Ramachandran

  • mirror neurons are so important they they have effectively shaped human evolution, uniquely complex social interactions we have as humans helps us understand intention, emotion and POV
  • without these, we can't live in large groups with he complex social rules and rules that characterise human culture
  • therefore neurons are key to understand the way humans have developed as a social species
• mirror neurons limitation

  • research into mirror neurons is simply correlation - increased activity in 1 brain area upon completing a task is assumed to be a mirror neuron as they have only been indirectly studied
  • HICKOCK argues if mirror neurons exist its likely their tole in social cognition has been misunderstood as understanding intention