COMMENTARY Making mirrors: sensorimotor experience directs activation of the mirror system (Commentary on Catmur et al.)

摘要

Watch your favorite athlete take a shot for the goal, or your favorite actor lean in for a kiss, and chances are that some of the same neurons that would be active if you were performing that action are firing as well. These mirror neurons - neurons in premotor and parietal cortex that fire both when an animal performs a goal-directed action and when observing such actions - provide a link between representations of the other and self-representations (di Pellegrino et al, 1992). Along with their proximity to Broca's area, this has led to the suggestion that the mirror system is fundamental for the development of language and complex social-cognitive constructs including empathy and theory of mind (Iacoboni & Dapretto, 2006). But how does the mirror system acquire its reflective properties? Are the patterns it shows in response to observing a particular movement pre-set by evolution, or the product of experience?#