The miror neuron system

• Autorzy: Rizzolatti G.
• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

EN

An exciting discovery in neurosciences over the last years has been that of a mechanism that unifies action perception and action execution. The essence of this mechanism – the mirror mechanism – is the following. Each time individuals observe an action done by others, a set of neurons that code that action are activated in the motor system. Since the observers are aware of the outcome of their motor acts, they also understand what the others are doing without the necessity of an intermediate cognitive mediation. In my talk, I will describe first some new discoveries on the mirror mechanism in the monkey. I will present then evidence that humans possess the mirror mechanism and that the anatomical location of parieto-frontal mirror networks of the monkeys and of humans closely coincide. Subsequently I will discuss the limits of the mirror mechanism in understanding others. I will stress that the mirror mechanism is, however, the only mechanism that allows a person to understand others’ actions “from the inside” giving the observing individual a “first-person” grasp of other individuals’ motor goals and intentions.

• Wydawca: -
• Czasopismo: Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis
• Rocznik: 2013
• Tom: 73
• Numer: Suppl.1
• Opis fizyczny: p.10

Twórcy

autor

Rizzolatti G.

• Departament of Neuroscience, University of Parma, Parma, Italy