Luke Gary CS378 COMP BRAIN

Mirror Neuron Systems

A recent trend in neuroscience is the discovery of the biological process that can allow for an explanation of a human's ability to have understanding or empathy. Mirror neurons appear to match goal related motor actions of others and allow for a general "mind reading" ability to adopt perspectives given by outside participants. Also, mirror neurons appear to assist in allowing subjects to participate in emotional states of others, such sharing feelings of disgust, erotic excitement, and intentions. Gallese et al. (1998) in their paper "Mirror neurons and the simulation theory of mind reading" claim they have some basis to begin studying the ability of "mind reading" through neurons in the frontal lobe of a monkey's brain. To begin, they allowed the monkey perform the action of picking up a peanut. They recorded the results and brain patterns experienced by the animal during this action. Afterwards, the monkey observed another monkey performing the same action. To reiterate, the subject monkey's nervous system was directly affected when it detected and "mirrored" the actions taken by the other monkey. Both as an actor and the performer the monkey had the same type of brain excitement. Continuing research has shown that the same phenomenon exists in humans. Mirror neurons appear to help others directly take part in emotional states of others. Since humans are social, the apparent benefit to this ability is extremely advantageous towards survival of the species. Allowing for these mechanisms to be on a neurological level allows for both extremely low latency in understanding and an almost immediate comprehension of behavior without an extremely large cognitive process. It's incredible to think that humans have the ability to both what another individual is doing as well as what the individual is feeling. Mirror neurons enable the observer to detect "another agent's goals and/or inner states can be useful to an observer because it helps him anticipate the agents future action." (Gallese 1998) The mirror neuron concept has allowed research to continue on the ability of a human to predict and explain the behaviors of others and is seen as a vital component of "simulation theory". Simulation theory is the theory that humans use their own mental processes to predict the mental processes of others. The opposing view on simulation theory is theory theory or the idea that people develop a theory of the mind, or deploying something similar to the scientific theory. They use a body of knowledge to explain behavior and the mental states of others. However, according to the research done by Gallese et al. "Our conjecture is only that MNs represent a primitive version, or possibly a precursor in phylogeny, of a simulation heuristic that might underline mind-reading." (Gallese 1998) and that " . If TT were correct, and an observer represents a targets behavior in purely theoretical fashion, it would not be

Luke Gary CS378 COMP BRAIN

predicted that the same muscle groups would be facilitated in the observer as in the target" (Gallese 1998) This statement appears to be fairly straightforward observation that simulation theory makes huge gains as a result of this research. Allowing self-related experiences and the ability to switch from a first-person and third-person perspective are extremely useful tools for a social creature such as humans. The findings by Gallese go to further support the idea that the implementation of the cerebrum allow for a self-conscious as well as a cognitive ability to understand fellow individuals. Mirror neurons are an idea that appears to have significant cognitive theories of consciousness potentially attached to it.

Works Cited
Gallese, V. G. (1998). Mirror neurons and the simulation theory of mind-reading.