The Mirror Neuron System Flashcards
What is the mirror neuron system?
A biological explanation for the development of social cognition.
What methods is the mirror neuron system studied through?
Objective methods, such as brain scans.
What did Moll et al suggest about the orbitofrontal cortex and the amygdala?
Suggested that the orbitofrontal cortex is involved in making social and moral judgements.
Suggested that the amygdala is involved in emotional processing and the recognition of facial emotions.
What did Frith find out from carrying out brain scans on autistic people?
Found that people with ASD have abnormal amygdala and frontal cortex.
What are mirror neurons?
They are cells that respond to things you see or hear someone else doing in order to understand what that person is thinking.
What are mirror neurons like in people with ASD?
The mirror neurons are damaged and do not perform as well.
What is the genetic explanation of autism?
Neurological ‘abnormalities’ are hereditary and therefore autism could have a genetic basis
Give advantages of The Mirror Neuron System.
+Supporting evidence from monkey studies.
Brain activity when you do something is the same as when you observe something.
However, there are problems with generalizing the findings as they are monkeys, humans are more complex.
+Supporting evidence from Cox that people with ASD don’t have the same brain activity.
ASD has a lack of mirror neuron system.
Give disadvantages of The Mirror Neuron System.
-The use of MRI scans.
Even though they have good spatial resolution, they have bad temporal resolution so we can’t be sure what we are seeing is actually happening.
We don’t know if they actually exist cause they have never been seen on scans.
-It is reductionist.
There is an overgeneralization, it ignores other factors that could be involved.
Biologically reductionist, it lacks comprehensiveness.
