Mirror neuron system - HLP4

Question 1

How are neurons in the M1 (primary motor cortex) arranged?

Answer 1

topographically - neighbouring neurons activate neighbouring muscles

Question 2

How is the premotor cortex involved in muscle movement?

Answer 2

Neuron activity causes movement in a group of muscles by activating several neurons in the primary motor cortex
generate coordinated actions

Question 3

What evidence for mirror neurons was found in the F5 of a monkey?

Answer 3

The neuron would respond during the execution of an action and the observation of the same action

Question 4

What is action specificity in terms of mirror neurons?

Answer 4

They will respond to a very specific action, such as twisting a peanut clockwise but not anticlockwise

Question 5

When don’t mirror neurons respond?

Answer 5

During miming of the action (e.g. when you are aware that a person isn’t actually picking anything up in their hand)

Question 6

What does mirror neurons responding when knowing the outcome of an action mean?

Answer 6

not just responding to visual information, but also to knowledge about the action

Question 7

What do STS cells integrate?

Answer 7

sight and sound of actions - multimodal response

Question 8

Are there mirror neurons in the STS?

Answer 8

probably not - none have been found

Question 9

Which areas make the mirror system in the monkey?

Answer 9

Parietal cortex area (PF) and the F5 - these connect to the STS but it is not part of the system

Question 10

What does action observation during TMS of the motor cortex (M1) do?

Answer 10

increases the likelihood/magnitude of motor evoked potentials = you move more
MEPs are enhanced during action observation

Question 11

Which regions respond to execution and observation of mouth movements?

Answer 11

Motor and visual response in frontal and parietal regions

Question 12

Why have some suggested that there aren’t mirror neurons in humans?(3)

Answer 12

• evidence is indirect - from monkeys
• relies on correlations between visual and motor activity (overlap in activation is used as evidence)
• neuroimaging is a measure of correlation

Question 13

Where are there mirror neurons according to single cell studies of human epilepsy patients?

Answer 13

supplementary motor area and the hippocampus

Question 14

How many mirror neurons were found in the single cell human study?

Answer 14

41

Question 15

How might mirror neurons be involved in judging the weight of objects?

Answer 15

you use how the other person picks up the object to guess how heavy it is, and you picking it up will change how you perceive how others are picking it up

Question 16

What is the effect of walking on a treadmill/exercise biking on judging the speed of a biological motion walker? What might you conclude from this?

Answer 16

Bike = good judgement
Walking = bad judgement
Similar action = bad perception because your neurons are doing your action and can’t activate well for the observed action

Question 17

Why might mirror neurons be good for the perception of others’ actions?

Answer 17

Similar activity means we can find out what our own goals would be if we did that action and assume that the goals are similar for the other person

Question 18

What is simulation theory?

Answer 18

We simulate the actions of others using the mirror system to understand them better

Question 19

What is theory theory?

Answer 19

We acquire and deploy a sense of theory of mind that explains our actions and inferences about others

Question 20

What stops us from thinking something is touching us when someone we see is being touched? How can we bypass this?

Answer 20

mechanoreceptors in the skin tell the brain that you aren’t being touched
block the feedback using drugs and you will feel the touch

Question 21

When context is provided to show action intention, which brain region is more activated?

Answer 21

premotor cortex

Question 22

Which species do we understand best?

Answer 22

our own, then similar things like monkeys, then unsimilar things like guinea pigs

Question 23

What does Liberman’s motor theory of speech state?

Answer 23

Mirror neurons are a necessary prerequisite for any form of communication (link sender and receiver)

Question 24

What do Arbib and Rizzolati suggest in terms of mirror neurons in language? (3)

Answer 24

• observer recognises an actor’s action and intention
• the ability to emit a voluntary signal results from the ability to consciously control the mirror system
• a primitive dialogue is formed between the observer and actor

Question 25

What does ASD severity correlate with in terms of mirror neurons?

Answer 25

cortical thinning and local thinning in the cerebral cortex (areas to do with the mirror neuron system)

Question 26

How does Mu suppression relate to ASD?

Answer 26

They have reduced Mu suppression (near the somatosensory cortex) when doing an action and when seeing an action being done

Question 27

How does the TMS and action observation relate to ASD?

Answer 27

they respond less with action when seeing someone act, compared to controls

Question 28

What happened when children with ASD judged emotions of facial expressions in a scanner?

Answer 28

more severity = less mirror system activation