The effect of Mirror Neurons on Social Cognition

Mirror NeuronsBy Troy MaynesWhat are Mirror Neurons?Mirror neurons are a particular class of sensory-motor neurons, originally discovered in area F5 of the premotor cortex in primates.The main distinctive feature is that these neurons discharge both when an individual does a particular action and when it observes another individual doing a similar action (Di Pellegrino et al. 1992, Gallese et al. 1996, Rizzolatti et al. 1996a)Many recent discoveries are drastically broadening the scope and potential functions of Mirror Neurons in humans.

Location within the BrainThis image depicts the location of the F5 mirror neurons discovered within Monkeys.

-Originally discovered in Primates specifically in the F5 region of the visual-motor cortex. -More recently there have been many analogous neuron systems discovered in many different parts of the brain. -Besides visual areas of the brain, activity has been found in the Superior temporal Sulcus (STS), parietal lobe, and premotor cortex. -They have even been detected in the Brocas area, which is central to speech production. -Does this prove a link between Mirror Neurons and Language?Functions in Humans-Assisting in Observational Learning-This class of neurons will fire when engaging in a particular activity, as well as when simply observing another personal do that activity. -Play a role in empathy and social interaction-Many studies suggest that Mirror neurons help individuals to understand the meanings of gestures and facial expressions, which could explain our aptitude for social cognition and empathy. -Although the role of Mirror neurons seems relatively specialized in other primates, it seems as if they could have adapted for a variety of purposes in humans. -Further studies are going to be needed to verify a lot of recent hypotheses.

Observational LearningBy far the most well-known effect of Mirror Neurons.The proposed mechanism is that because mirror neurons are specialized and only fire off in specific patterns for one particular behavior, we are able to identify or almost feel that exact behavior when observing others.A crucial part of this learning is action understanding, where these neurons fire off simply if it is understood what the implied action is. Monkey Study (Umilta et al. 2001)Testing F5 mirror neuronsResponded similarly even when the final part of the observed behavior was hidden behind a screen, demonstrating the concept of action understanding. Observational Learning (cont.)Another interesting aspect of observational learning is how specialization of skills relates to activation of these brain-regions. Capoeira (Brazilian fight-dancers) vs. BalletCalvo-Merino et al. (2005)Capoeira dancers have stronger activation in premotor and parietal areas when observing capoeira vs. ballet movements. Ballet dancers showed the opposite effect.Professional Pianists observing piano playingHaslinger et al. (2005)Similarly, there was stronger activation of the motor system when professional pianists observed piano playing compared to musically nave controls.

Empathy and Emotional CognitionMany argue that mirror neurons form a crucial basis for our understandings of emotions of others. Similar mechanisms to the observational learning show that when we observe others expressing certain emotions we activate the same neural patterns as if we are experiencing it ourselves. Its a very intuitive process, lots of anecdotal evidence for it. when we see somebody experiencing pain it makes us cringe and often times experience similar pain reactions. When we see others crying it will often trigger a similar response.Laughter is contagiousYawning?Empathy (Cont.)fMRI study involving the emotion of Disgust (Wicker et al, 2003)This emotion typically elicits activation in two structures in the brain, the Amygdala and the Insula. The study consisted of olfactory runs where an individual would inhale disgusting, neutral, and pleasant odors. Then it compared them to watching video clips of others smelling and reacting to the same odors. While the Amygdala wasnt activated at all while observing the video, the exact same parts of the anterior insula were active.This study provides evidence for a neural-mapping mechanism for our understanding of emotions.

Can Mirror Neurons help explain the development of language?After discovering the F5 area in monkeys, neuroscientists quickly concluded that this region is homologous to the human Brocas area (Petrides and Pandya, 1997)One crucial differences is how we respond selectively to speech sounds, a study was done (Fadiga et al, 2002) to investigate our echo mirror neuron system. Subjects listened to words and pseudo-words, focusing on words containing the hard R sound, and words containing the F sound. When listening to words with the hard R, individuals experienced much stronger activation of motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) from the tongue muscles. Language (cont.)Another crucial series of studies involved listening to action words (Hauk et al, 2004, Tettamanti et al, 2005)Compared the activation of mirror neurons from actually doing a behavior, to simply reading of listening to words describing these behaviors. While the activation was less strong, it was very distinctly present simply from listening/reading the word. Might prove a link between the mirror neuron system and language understanding. While further studies are needed before comprehensive theories can be developed, it is an exciting field of research that is just beginning to be understood!ConclusionMirror-neuron research is a very new field of study, keep an eye out for developments in the future.Play a key role in Observational learning, puts a new spin on many Behaviorist theories of learning.Provides a neurological basis for empathy and emotional understanding.While language is very complex and difficult to theorize on, mirror-neuron research may prove to play a crucial role in many aspects of language production and understanding.