Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-x4r87 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T06:56:35.650Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Relating the “mirrorness” of mirror neurons to their origins

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2014

James M. Kilner
Affiliation:
Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom. j.kilner@ucl.ac.ukhttp://www.ucl.ac.uk/ion/departments/sobell
Karl J. Friston
Affiliation:
Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, UCL Institute of Neurology, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom. k.friston@ucl.ac.ukhttp://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/

Abstract

Ever since their discovery, mirror neurons have generated much interest and debate. A commonly held view of mirror neuron function is that they transform “visual information into knowledge,” thus enabling action understanding and non-verbal social communication between con-specifics (Rizzolatti & Craighero 2004). This functionality is thought to be so important that it has been argued that mirror neurons must be a result of selective pressure.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Blakemore, C. & Mitchell, D. E. (1973) Environmental modification of the visual cortex and the neural basis of learning and memory. Nature 241:467–68.Google Scholar
Clark, A. (2013) Whatever next? Predictive brains, situated agents, and the future of cognitive science. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 36(3):181204.Google Scholar
Friston, K., Mattout, J. & Kilner, J. (2011) Action understanding and active inference. Biological Cybernetics 104(1–2):137–60.Google Scholar
Kilner, J. M., Friston, K. J. & Frith, C. D. (2007b) The mirror-neuron system: A Bayesian perspective. NeuroReport 18:619–23.Google Scholar
Rizzolatti, G. & Craighero, L. (2004) The mirror-neuron system. Annual Review of Neuroscience 27:169–92.Google Scholar