Lecture 9 - Mirror Neurons 2 (not MCQ) Flashcards
How do MNs contribute to language?
MNs - capacity to recognise actions of others –> inter-individual communication –> manual gesture system –> vocal speech
What is inter-individual communication?
Actor does action, observer interested + produces small motor response, actor recognises intentions + responds, observer recognises effect of their behaviour on actor
What is the manual gesture system?
Hypothesis: ancestors’ gestures precursors of speech-accompanying hand gestures
Hand/mouth functionally linked (make larger mouth movements/sounds when asked to speak while holding large object + vice versa)
What is intersubjectivity?
Imitation, empathy, intention (mind-reading)
Allows us to predict behaviours of others (Gallese (2004) - like me analogy between self and others, forming basis of social cognition)
Based on process of crossmodal transfer + mirror matching system
What is empathy?
How you are feeling emotionally + sensorily, when you see someone hurt themselves often move that part of own body as if you also felt pain
Direct mapping of viewing pain in others + feeling pain yourself in anterior cingulate cortex
What is motor empathy?
Ppl watched video of needle touching hand/cushion then shape telling them to press/not press –> faster press responses than release responses except when people viewed needle touching the hand
What is involved in expressing disgust?
Brain areas involved in observing/imitating emotional facial expressions –> Broca’s area, insula (gustatory disgust), amygdala (negative affect)
We understand what others feel by representing their actions (social role)
What is the Chameleon effect?
Empathic individuals often exhibit non-conscious mimicry of postures/mannerisms/facial expressions of others
If you score high on empathy measures, more likely to show increase Chameleon Effect + have more social interactions
What is autism?
Neurodevelopmental condition (116-157/10,000)
Triad of impairments: social interaction (solitary/withdrawn/less eye contact), communication (language impairment/difficulty understanding others), restricted/repetitive interests, sensory/motor overstimulation
What are the 3 major theories of autism?
Theory of mind deficit (mentalising)
Weak central coherence (focus on detail at expense of bigger picture)
Broken mirror theory
What is Broken Mirror theory?
Problems with MNs could explain:
issues with imitation, difficulties w/ empathy/social cognition, difficulties w/ metaphor/indirect meaning
What was seen in observing/executing actions for control vs children with autism?
Controls: Increased activity for eating versus placing for both execution + observation
Autism spectrum: increased activity only for execution
What did Dinstein find?
Limited evidence from MNs from primates + humans
Primates: small number of samples, often qualitative rather than quantitative, need more studies to ask how well cells can distinguish pairs of movements, need evidence of MNs firing in spontaneous social interaction
Humans: many areas outside MN areas activated during action observation, are same neurons firing? - adaptation protocols, TMS effects could be produced by areas outside of MN
What did adaptation tasks find?
Repeated actions + looked at which brain areas show reduction in response w/ repeated stimuli (adaptation used to explore whether same area involved in diff tasks)
Overlapping areas showing adaption for observed//executed: anterior inferior frontal sulcus, ventral premotor, anterior IP, superior IP, posterior IP
No evidence for adaptation across modalities, strongest evidence lacking
What is problem 1 with MN theories?
Motor theories of perception not new, over-emphasis on action understanding function?
No evidence in monkeys that MNs support action understanding
Inactivation of F5 disrupted grasping but not perception, sound of action evidence (Kohler et al. 2002)
But this could just be association/working memory (no measurement of understanding)
What did Fogassi study?
Cells in inferior parietal lobule respond to goal of action (grasping to eat versus place) –> observation action may activate system not bc reading intention but simply bc sensory event associated with particular motor acts
What is problem 2 with MN theories?
Action understanding can be achieved without MNs
F5 also respond to objects but not argued to underpin understanding of objects (Superior Temporal Sulcus may be more critical for action understanding)
What is problem 3 with MN theories?
Human monkey differences
Higher cognitive functions attributed to MNs not seen in monkeys, assumed that MN in humans developed to include both action/understanding/imitation
Cannot assume conclusions from monkeys apply in humans
What is problem 4 with MN theories?
Human action understanding dissociated from MN areas
Dog barking didn’t activate MN systems in humans but they understood action?
What about understanding expert action? (eg. Non musicians)
Watched ballet dancers, greater activation for experts: ventral premotor, dorsal premotor, inferior parietal sulcus, posterior STS
We understand actions without simulation
Problems with Broken Mirror theory of autism?
Effects may be due to activity outside of MN areas, MN problems cannot explain preference for local detail/sensory problems
People with ASC can recognise/predict actions, imitate under some conditions, children with ASC able to recognise intention behind failed action
Need to better understand other processes involved in imitation, could other mirror areas be involved?, should people be looking for single explanation?
More understanding needed for specificity of MNs + existence in humans, key role for MNs in action understanding/social cognition, BMT over-simplistic
What are diff types of imitation?
Dual route model
Semantic route: meaningful actions
Visuomotor route: meaningless action
Autistic children can perform goal-directed imitation in direct route (mimicry)
