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Biological Basis of Behaviour II > Mirror Neurons > Flashcards

Mirror Neurons Flashcards

1
Q

MIRROR NEURONS

A
  • neurons that become active (aka. fire) both when:
    1. individuals perform specific motor act
    2. individuals observe similar act done by others
  • neurons “mirror” beh of other as though they were acting
  • directly observed in both human/primate species
  • some argue that mirror neuron systems in human brain help understand actions/intentions of others
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2
Q

PUBLISHED PAPER TOPICS

A
  • 800+ papers proposing mirror neurons = neuronal substrate underlying vast function array:
    GAZZOLA ET AL. (2006)
  • empathy
    DAPRETTO ET AL. (2006)
  • autistic behaviour
    D’AUSILIO ET AL. (2009)
  • speech perception
    AZIZ-ZADEH ET AL. (2006)
  • comprehension
    IACOBONI (2005)
  • imitation
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3
Q

SINGLE-UNIT RECORDINGS

A
  • requires surgical skull opening & implanting of recording microelectrodes
  • provide measuring method of electro-physiological responses in 1 neuron
  • microelectrode (glass micro-pipettes/metal microelectrodes made of platinum) inserted into brain to record change rate in voltage VS time
  • microelectrodes placed close to cell allowing ability to record extracellularly
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4
Q

SINGLE-UNIT RECORDINGS: PATIENTS

A
  • mostly done w/animals as invasive
  • BUT some exceptional cases regarding Parkinson’s disease/epilepsy patients
  • gives ^ spatial/temporal resolution assessing relationship between brain structure/function/behaviour
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5
Q

SINGLE-UNIT RECORDINGS: BORAUND ET AL. (2002)

A
  • by looking at brain activity at neuron level researcher can link brain activity/beh -> create neuronal maps describing info flow through brain
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6
Q

RIZZOLATI (1992): PROCEDURE

A
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7
Q

RIZZOLATI (1992): RESULTS

A
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8
Q

RIZZOLATI (1992): FIRST EVIDENCE

A
  • premotor cortex = crucial brain part; believed to have direct control over voluntary muscle movements
  • mirror neuron discovery played role in understanding actions of others/using abstract rules to perform specific tasks
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9
Q

AUDITORY MIRROR NEURONS: KOHLER ET AL. (2012) (DESIGN)

A
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10
Q

AUDITORY MIRROR NEURONS: KOHLER ET AL. (STIMULI)

A
  • action related stimuli = peanut breaking/paper ripping/plastic crumbling/dry food manipulation/dropping stick/metal hitting metal
  • all stimuli = presented in/out of sight
  • non-action related sounds = white noise/pure tone/clicks/monkey & animal calls
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11
Q

AUDITORY MIRROR NEURONS: KOHLER ET AL. (EXPERIMENTAL PARADIGM)

A
  • authors addressed neuron capacity issue to differentiate between 2 dif actions based on vision/sound
  • 2 actions = randomly presented in “vision & sound” (V+S)/”sound” (S)/”vision” (V)/motor (M aka. monkeys performing object-directed actions) conditions
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12
Q

AUDITORY MIRROR NEURONS: KOHLER ET AL. (NEURON I)

A
  • responded to vision/sound of tearing action (ripping paper (VS))
  • same action sound performed out of sight = equally effective (S)
  • non-action related sounds (white noise/monkey calls) didn’t evoke excitatory responses (control sounds: CS1/CS2)
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13
Q

AUDITORY MIRROR NEURONS: KOHLER ET AL. (NEURON II)

A
  • responded to vision/sound of hand dropping stick (VS) & sound of stick hitting floor (S)
  • non-action related arousing sounds didn’t produce any consistent excitation (CS1/CS2)
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14
Q

AUDITORY MIRROR NEURONS: KOHLER ET AL. (NEURON III)

A
  • discharged when monkey observed experimenter breaking peanut (VS/V) & when monkey heard peanut breaking w/o seeing action (S)
  • also discharged when monkey made same action (M); grasping ring & resulting sound evoked small responses
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15
Q

AUDITORY MIRROR NEURONS: KOHLER ET AL. (NEURON IV)

A
  • another selective audio-visual mirror neuron example
  • responded vigorously when monkey broke peanut; less when it ripped paper (M)
  • selectivity also observed when monkey saw/heard experimenter breaking peanut (VS)
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16
Q

FIRST EVIDENCE: KOHLER ET AL. FINDINGS

A
  • what makes neuron a mirror = active both when animal engages in activity (ie. grabbing peanut) & when animal observed experimenter engage in same/closely related activity
    KOHLER ET AL. (2002)
  • area F5 contains audio-visual mirror neuron pop; discharge to execution/observation of specific action & when action is only heard
  • 1/3 of them = “strictly congruent” aka. require close match in action production/perception while 2/3 = broadly congruent & respond to actions w/same goal (ie. grabbing peanut) BUT dif movement specifics (ie. using tool not hand)
17
Q

MUKAMEL ET AL. (2010)

A
  • reported on experiments using single-units recording in humans
  • electrodes implanted as prelude to surgery rather than primarily for research
  • aka. electrode location not selected to test various hypotheses BUT data provides convincing evidence of individual cells w/mirror properties in humans
18
Q

MUKAMEL ET AL. (2010): EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

A
  • recorded extracellular single activity from 21 patients w/pharmacologically intractable epilepsy
  • patients implanted w/intracranial depth electrodes to identify seizure areas for potential surgical treatment
  • electrode location = based on clinical criteria; patients provided written informed consent to participate in experiments
19
Q

MUKAMEL ET AL. (2010): CELLS RECORDING PROCEDURE

A
20
Q

MUKAMEL ET AL. (2010): RESULTS I

A
21
Q

MUKAMEL ET AL. (2010): RESULTS II

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22
Q

MUKAMEL ET AL. (2010): RESULTS III

A
  • single unit in left entorhinal cortex (EC) increases firing rate during both frown execution/observation (functions = memory/navigation/time perception)
  • single unit in right parahippocampal gyrus increases firing rate during whole hand grasp execution/observation (functions = memory encoding/retrieval)
23
Q

MUKAMEL ET AL. (2010): RESULTS IV

A
  • single unit in left entorhinal cortex increases firing rate during smile execution/observation
  • single unit in right parahippocampal gyrus increasing firing rate during precision grip execution & precision grip observation
24
Q

MUKAMEL ET AL. (2010): DISCUSSION

A
  • results provide evidence of mirroring spiking activity during action-execution/action-observation in medial frontal/temporal cortex (neural systems where mirroring responses at single-cell lvl NOT been previously recorded)
  • suggest multiple system existence in human brain w/neural mirroring mechanisms for flexible integration/differentiation of perceptual/motor aspects of actions performed by self/others

Biological Basis of Behaviour II (25 decks)

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