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Associative learning alone is insufficient for the evolution and maintenance of the human mirror neuron system

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2014

Lindsay M. Oberman ,
Edward M. Hubbard  and
Joseph P. McCleery
Lindsay M. Oberman
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, and Division of Cognitive Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215. loberman@bidmc.harvard.eduhttp://www.tmslab.org
Edward M. Hubbard
Affiliation:
Department of Educational Psychology and Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53705. emhubbard@wisc.eduhttp://website.education.wisc.edu/edneurolab
Joseph P. McCleery
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, United Kingdom. j.p.mccleery@bham.ac.ukhttp://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/psychology/mcCleery-joe.aspx
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Abstract

Cook et al. argue that mirror neurons originate from associative learning processes, without evolutionary influence from social-cognitive mechanisms. We disagree with this claim and present arguments based upon cross-species comparisons, EEG findings, and developmental neuroscience that the evolution of mirror neurons is most likely driven simultaneously and interactively by evolutionarily adaptive psychological mechanisms and lower-level biological mechanisms that support them.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , April 2014 , pp. 212 - 213
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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