![]() The discovery was initially submitted to Nature, but was rejected for its "lack of general interest" before being published in a less competitive journal. They found that some neurons responded when the monkey observed a person picking up a piece of food, and also when the monkey itself picked up the food. During each experiment, the researchers allowed the monkey to reach for pieces of food, and recorded from single neurons in the monkey's brain, thus measuring the neuron's response to certain movements. ![]() In the 1980s and 1990s, neurophysiologists Giacomo Rizzolatti, Giuseppe Di Pellegrino, Luciano Fadiga, Leonardo Fogassi, and Vittorio Gallese at the University of Parma placed electrodes in the ventral premotor cortex of the macaque monkey to study neurons specialized in the control of hand and mouth actions for example, taking hold of an object and manipulating it. As for understanding the functional significance of these cells … don't be fooled: that journey has only just begun. And that we're still trying to establish for sure whether they exist in humans, and how they compare with the monkey versions. Remember too that there are many different types of mirror neuron. mirror neurons are an exciting, intriguing discovery – but when you see them mentioned in the media, remember that most of the research on these cells has been conducted in monkeys. In a 2013 article for Wired, Christian Jarrett cautioned that: There are scientists who express skepticism about the theories being advanced to explain the function of mirror neurons. In addition, Iacoboni has argued that mirror neurons are the neural basis of the human capacity for emotions such as empathy. In a study published in March 2005 Iacoboni and his colleagues reported that mirror neuron activity could predict whether another person who was picking up a cup of tea planned to drink from it or clear it from the table. Neuroscientists such as Marco Iacoboni (UCLA) have argued that mirror neuron systems in the human brain help us understand the actions and intentions of other people. Some researchers speculate that mirror systems may simulate observed actions, and thus contribute to theory of mind skills, while others relate mirror neurons to language abilities. In 2014, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B published a special issue entirely devoted to mirror neuron research. The subject of mirror neurons continues to generate intense debate. To date, no widely accepted neural or computational models have been put forward to describe how mirror neuron activity supports cognitive functions. Birds have been shown to have imitative resonance behaviors and neurological evidence suggests the presence of some form of mirroring system. The function of the mirror system in humans is a subject of much speculation. In humans, brain activity consistent with that of mirror neurons has been found in the premotor cortex, the supplementary motor area, the primary somatosensory cortex, and the inferior parietal cortex. ![]() Such neurons have been directly observed in human and primate species, and in birds. ![]() Thus, the neuron "mirrors" the behavior of the other, as though the observer were itself acting. A mirror neuron is a neuron that fires both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another. ![]()
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