| Peer-Reviewed

Mirror Neurons: Fire to Inspire

Received: 16 September 2016     Accepted: 29 September 2016     Published: 3 November 2016
Views:       Downloads:
Abstract

Mirror neurons got a great deal of attention from connoisseurs and in scientific reports. Mirror neurons have the capability of observation and execution of action to code both “my action and your action”. Firstly they were found in an area of f5 region of ventral premotor cortex and inferior parietal lobule of monkey brain. Mirror neuron system (MNS) is the driving force behind the great leap forward in human evolution. Both monkeys and human are born with MNS. Sensory or motor experience may trigger the development of mirror neurons. Adult group show an intrinsic difference between goal directed and non –goal directed action observation condition. Recently neurons with mirror characteristics have been found outside the rostral part of inferior parietal lobule and inferior frontal gyrus. Human neuroimaging experiments confirm a wide overlap between cortical areas in human and areas where mirror neurons have been reported in macaque monkey. Still there is a lack of studies about MNS in neurosurgical patients so the goal is to describe the application of an fMRI protocol to identify the MNS in patient with mass lesion in premotor area. The goal of this review was to give a brief explanation of MNS covering their origin, observation, execution, innateness, evolution, development, empathy and recent developments like fMRI, neuroimaging and mapping.

Published in International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences (Volume 1, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20160103.11
Page(s) 40-44
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2016. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

MNS, BOLD, fMRI, PMC, TMS, IPL, Motor Cortex, EEG, LFP

References
[1] Di Pellegrino, G., Fadiga, L., Fogassi, L., Gallese, V. & Rizzolatti, G. (1992) Understanding motor events: A neurophysiological study. Experimental Brain Research 91(1): 176–80.
[2] Bonini, L., Rozzi, S., Serventi, F. U., Simone, L., Ferrari, P. F. & Fogassi, L. (2010) Ventral premotor and inferior parietal cortices make distinct contribution to action organization and intention understanding. Cerebral Cortex 20(6): 1372–85.
[3] Molenberghs, P., Cunnington, R. & Mattingley, J. B. (2012) Brain regions with mirror properties: A meta-analysis of 125 human fMRI studies. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 36(1): 341–49.
[4] Blakesee, S. (2006) Cells that read minds. The New York Times, January 10, 2006. (Online) Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/10/science/10mirr.html.
[5] Ramachandran, V. S. (2009) The neurons that shaped civilization. Available at: http://www.ted.com/talks/vs_ramachandran_the_neurons_that_shaped_civilization.html.
[6] Iacoboni, M. (2008) Mesial frontal cortex and super mirror neurons. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 31:30
[7] Gallese, V. & Sinigaglia, C. (2011) What is so special about embodied simulation? Trends in Cognitive Sciences 15(11): 512–19.
[8] Avenanti, A., Bueti, D., Galati, G. & Aglioti, S. M. (2005) Transcranial magnetic stimulation highlights the sensorimotor side of empathy for pain. Nature Neuroscience 8(7): 955–60.
[9] Enticott, P. G., Johnston, P. J., Herring, S. E., Hoy, K. E. & Fitzgerald, P. B. (2008) Mirror neuron activation is associated with facial emotion processing. Neuropsychologia46 (11): 2851–54.
[10] Iacoboni, M., Molnar-Szakacs, I., Gallese, V., Buccino, G., Mazziotta, J. C. & Rizzolatti, G. (2005) Grasping the intentions of others with one’s own mirror neuron system. PLoS Biology 3(3):529–35; e79. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0030079.
[11] Theoret, H. & Pascual-Leone, A. (2002) Language acquisition: Do as you hear. Current Biology 12(21): R736–37.
[12] Arbib, M. A. (2005) From monkey-like action recognition to human language: An evolutionary framework for neurolinguistics. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 28(2): 105–24; discussion 125–67.
[13] Cinzia, D. D. & Gallese, V. (2009) Neuroaesthetics: A review. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 19(6): 682–87.
[14] Ponseti, J., Bosinski, H. A., Wolff, S., Peller, M., Jansen, O., Mehdorn, H. M., Büchel, C. & Siebner, H. R. (2006) A functional endophenotype for sexual orientation in humans. Neuroimage 33(3): 825–33.
[15] Virji-Babul, N., Moiseev, A., Cheung, T., Weeks, D., Cheyne, D. & Ribary, U. (2008) Changes in mu rhythm during action observation and execution in adults with Down syndrome: Implications for action representation. Neuroscience Letters 436(2): 177–80.
[16] Rocca, M. A., Tortorella, P., Ceccarelli, A., Falini, A., Tango, D., Scotti, G., Comi, G. & Fillipi, M. (2008) The “mirror-neuron system” in MS: A 3 tesla fMRI study.Neurology 70(4): 255–62.
[17] Pineda, J. O. & Oberman, L. M. (2006) What goads cigarette smokers to smoke? Neural adaptation and the mirror neuron system. Brain Research 1121(1): 128–35.
[18] Cohen, D. A. (2008) Neurophysiological pathways to obesity: Below awareness and beyond individual control. Diabetes 57(7): 1768–73.
[19] Ray, E. B., Heyes, C. M., in press. Imitation in infancy: the wealth of the stimulus. Rizzolatti, G., Arbib, M. A., 1998. Language within our grasp. Trends in Neurosciences 21, 188–194.
[20] Rizzolatti, G., Craighero, L., 2004. The mirror neuron system. Annual Review of Neuroscience 27, 169–192.
[21] C. Darwin, The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, John Murray, London, 1871.
[22] W. T. Fitch, The Evolution of Language, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2010.
[23] S. Mithen, The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind & Body, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London, 2005.
[24] L. Fadiga, L. Craighero, Electrophysiology of action representation, Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology 21 (2004) 157–169
[25] Gazzola, V., Keysers, C., 2009. The observation and execution of actions share motor and somatosensory voxels in all tested subjects: single-subject analyses of unsmoothed fMRI data. Cerebral Cortex 19, 1239–55.
[26] Rizzolatti, G., Craighero, L., 2004. The mirror neuron system. Annual Review of Neuroscience 27, 169–192.
[27] Mukamel, R., Ekstrom, A. D., Kaplan, J., Iacoboni, M. & Fried, I. (2010) Single neuron responses in humans during execution and observation of actions. Current Biology 20(8): 750–756.
[28] Iacoboni, M., Molnar-Szakacs, I., Gallese, V., Buccino, G., Mazziotta, J. C. & Rizzolatti,G. (2005) Grasping the intentions of others with one’s own mirror neuron system. PLoS Biology 3(3):529–35; e79. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0030079.
[29] Rizzolatti, G., Fogassi, L. & Gallese, V. (2001) Neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the understanding and imitation of action. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 2(9): 661–70.
[30] (Rizzolatti & Craighero, 2004, p. 172).
[31] Buccino, G., et al., 2004. Neural circuits underlying imitation learning of hand actions: an event-related fMRI study. Neuron 42, 323–334.
[32] L Fadiga, G Buccino, L Craighero, L Fogassi, V Gallese, G Pavesi... L Craighero, E Olivier. Current opinion in neurobiology 15 (2), 213-218, 2005. 348, 2005.
[33] Iacoboni, M. (2008) Mesial frontal cortex and super mirror neurons. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 31:30
[34] Iacoboni, M., Molnar-Szakacs, I., Gallese, V., Buccino, G., Mazziotta, J. C. & Rizzolatti, G. (2005) Grasping the intentions of others with one’s own mirror neuron system. PLoS Biology 3(3):529–35; e79. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0030079.
[35] Sloman, S. A. (1996). The empirical case for two systems of reasoning. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 3–22.
[36] Stanovich, K. E., & West, R. F. (2000). Individual differences in reasoning: Implications for the rationality debate? Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 23, 645–726
[37] Slovic, P., Finucane, M., Peters, E., & MacGregor, D. G. (2002). The affect heuristic. In T. Gilovich, D. Griffin, & D. Kahneman (Eds.), Heuristics and biases(pp. 397–420). New York: Cambridge University Press.
[38] Kahneman, D. (2003). A perspective on judgment and choice. Mapping bounded rationality. American Psychologist, 58, 697–720.
[39] Hogarth, R. M. (2001). Educating intuition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
[40] Epstein, S. (1994). Integration of the cognitive and the psychodynamic unconscious. American Psychologist, 49, 709–724.
[41] Bohl, V., & van den Bos, W. (2012). Toward and integrative account of social cognition: Marrying theory of mind and interactionism to study the interplay of Type 1 and Type 2 processes. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 274, 1–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum2012.00274.
[42] Waytz, A., & Mitchell, J. P. (2011). Two mechanisms for simulating other minds: Dissociations between mirroring and self-projection. Psychological Science, 20, 197–200
[43] Chiavarino, C., Apperly, I. A., & Humphreys, G. W. (2012). Understanding intentions: Distinct processes for mirroring, representing, and conceptualizing. Psychological Science, 21, 284–289.
[44] Molenberghs et al. (2010), gamma and normal random effects are included in a Weibull model, to account for overdispersion and between-subject effects.
[45] Mukamel, R., Ekstrom, A. D., Kaplan, J., Iacoboni, M. & Fried, I. (2010) Singleneuron responses in humans during execution and observation of actions.Current Biology 20(8):750–56
[46] Nelissen, K., Luppino, G., Vanduffel, W., Rizzolatti, G., and Orban, G. A. (2005). Observing others: multiple action representation in the frontal lobe. Science 310, 332–336.
[47] Peeters, R., Simone, L., Nelissen, K., Fabbri-Destro, M., Vanduffel, W., Rizzolatti, G., and Orban, G. A. (2009). The representation of tool use in humans and monkeys: common and uniquely human features. J. Neurosci. 29, 11523–11539.
[48] Grill-Spector, K., Henson, R., and Martin, A. (2006). Repetition and the brain: neural models of stimulus-specific effects. Trends Cogn. Sci. 10, 14–23.
[49] Dinstein, I., Hasson, U., Rubin, N., and Heeger, D. J. (2007). Brain areas selective for both observed and executed movements. J. Neurophysiol.98, 1415–1427.
[50] Kilner, J., Neal, A., Weiskopf, N., Friston, K. J., and Frith, C. (2009). Evidence of mirror neurons in human inferior frontal gyrus. J. Neurosci. 29, 10153–10159.
[51] Press, C., Weiskopf, N., and Kilner, J. M. (2012). Dissociable roles of human inferior frontal gyrus during action execution and observation. Neuroimage 60, 1671–1677.
[52] Caggiano, V., Pomper, J. K., Fleischer, F., Fogassi, L., Giese, M., and Thier, P. (2013). Mirror neurons in monkey area F5 do not adapt to the observation of repeated actions. Nat. Commun. 4, 1433.
[53] Caggiano, neurons of area f5 in macaque premotor cortex. Curr. Biol. 21, 144–148. V., Fogassi, L., Rizzolatti, G., Pomper, J. K., Thier, P., Giese, M. A., and Casile, A. (2011). View-based encoding of actions in mirror.
[54] Umilta, M. A., Kohler, E., Gallese, V., Fogassi, L., Fadiga, L., Keysers, C., and Rizzolatti, G. (2001). I know what you are doing. a neurophysiological study. Neuron 31, 155–165.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Ammara Bakht, Nasia Shakeel, Hifza Khan. (2016). Mirror Neurons: Fire to Inspire. International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 1(3), 40-44. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20160103.11

    Copy | Download

    ACS Style

    Ammara Bakht; Nasia Shakeel; Hifza Khan. Mirror Neurons: Fire to Inspire. Int. J. Psychol. Brain Sci. 2016, 1(3), 40-44. doi: 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20160103.11

    Copy | Download

    AMA Style

    Ammara Bakht, Nasia Shakeel, Hifza Khan. Mirror Neurons: Fire to Inspire. Int J Psychol Brain Sci. 2016;1(3):40-44. doi: 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20160103.11

    Copy | Download

  • @article{10.11648/j.ijpbs.20160103.11,
      author = {Ammara Bakht and Nasia Shakeel and Hifza Khan},
      title = {Mirror Neurons: Fire to Inspire},
      journal = {International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences},
      volume = {1},
      number = {3},
      pages = {40-44},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijpbs.20160103.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20160103.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijpbs.20160103.11},
      abstract = {Mirror neurons got a great deal of attention from connoisseurs and in scientific reports. Mirror neurons have the capability of observation and execution of action to code both “my action and your action”. Firstly they were found in an area of f5 region of ventral premotor cortex and inferior parietal lobule of monkey brain. Mirror neuron system (MNS) is the driving force behind the great leap forward in human evolution. Both monkeys and human are born with MNS. Sensory or motor experience may trigger the development of mirror neurons. Adult group show an intrinsic difference between goal directed and non –goal directed action observation condition. Recently neurons with mirror characteristics have been found outside the rostral part of inferior parietal lobule and inferior frontal gyrus. Human neuroimaging experiments confirm a wide overlap between cortical areas in human and areas where mirror neurons have been reported in macaque monkey. Still there is a lack of studies about MNS in neurosurgical patients so the goal is to describe the application of an fMRI protocol to identify the MNS in patient with mass lesion in premotor area. The goal of this review was to give a brief explanation of MNS covering their origin, observation, execution, innateness, evolution, development, empathy and recent developments like fMRI, neuroimaging and mapping.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

    Copy | Download

  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Mirror Neurons: Fire to Inspire
    AU  - Ammara Bakht
    AU  - Nasia Shakeel
    AU  - Hifza Khan
    Y1  - 2016/11/03
    PY  - 2016
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20160103.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20160103.11
    T2  - International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences
    JF  - International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences
    JO  - International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences
    SP  - 40
    EP  - 44
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2575-1573
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20160103.11
    AB  - Mirror neurons got a great deal of attention from connoisseurs and in scientific reports. Mirror neurons have the capability of observation and execution of action to code both “my action and your action”. Firstly they were found in an area of f5 region of ventral premotor cortex and inferior parietal lobule of monkey brain. Mirror neuron system (MNS) is the driving force behind the great leap forward in human evolution. Both monkeys and human are born with MNS. Sensory or motor experience may trigger the development of mirror neurons. Adult group show an intrinsic difference between goal directed and non –goal directed action observation condition. Recently neurons with mirror characteristics have been found outside the rostral part of inferior parietal lobule and inferior frontal gyrus. Human neuroimaging experiments confirm a wide overlap between cortical areas in human and areas where mirror neurons have been reported in macaque monkey. Still there is a lack of studies about MNS in neurosurgical patients so the goal is to describe the application of an fMRI protocol to identify the MNS in patient with mass lesion in premotor area. The goal of this review was to give a brief explanation of MNS covering their origin, observation, execution, innateness, evolution, development, empathy and recent developments like fMRI, neuroimaging and mapping.
    VL  - 1
    IS  - 3
    ER  - 

    Copy | Download

Author Information
  • Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Faculty of Basic and Applied Sciences, International Islamic University Islamabad, Islamabad, Pakistan

  • Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Faculty of Basic and Applied Sciences, International Islamic University Islamabad, Islamabad, Pakistan

  • Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Faculty of Basic and Applied Sciences, International Islamic University Islamabad, Islamabad, Pakistan

  • Sections