mirror-neurons

Key words mirror neurons, actions, neuroimaging, imitation, social behavior, empathy, action understanding

Observing other people in action does activate the so called "mirror neuron system", which is needed for comprehending and predicting the specific action (of others).

In primates there are three brain areas involved in the obsevations of actions of others. These are the superior temporal sulcus (STS), area PF and F5. the last two areas have been associated with the so called mirror neurons, or the mirror neuron system. Area PF contains neurons that are active in grasping and mouth movements.

In humans, neuroimaging results have located the probability of mirror neurons in the rostral inferior parietal cortex and the rostral premotor cortex. Furthermore BOLD activation was found during action observation an execution in the middle temporal gyrus and superior temporal sulcus.

Some studies in humans found an auditory mirror neuron system.

Motor parts of the human brain were found to be active when participants Performed actions while they underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). These activations were the same as when the subject saw a robot or human being perform those actions (Pineda, 2009).

In humans, Mainieri et al. (2013) investigated the neural correlates of communicative gestures that were associated with abstract mental states while obseving and performing. Communicative intention was investigated by imitation, which is a social behavior. The mirror neuron system was activated.

Why do we feel empathy toward unreal characters in a movie? Because we know how they are feeling, in view of the fact that we strictly have the experience of the same emotions. This is empathy and it is associated with the human mirror neuron system.

In the case that we see that somebody else is suffering from pain, the mirror neurrons aid us to read the facial expression of this person. This makes us actually feel the suffering of the other person suffering from pain.

It is suggested that part of the same neurons are firing when we watch a player catch a ball and that they as well fire when we catch the ball ourselves (Iacoboni, 2009, p. 5).

"The simple fact that a subset of the cells in our brains - the mirror neurons - fire when an individual kicks a soccer ball, sees a ball being kicked, and even says or hears the word 'kick' leads to amazing consequences and new understanding" (Iacoboni, 2009, p. 12).