Week 12 Readings: Mirror Neurons & RIM Empathy

Question 1

Heyes & Catmur 2022 - What role does mirror neurons play on observed actions?

Answer 1

Mirror- neuron brain areas contribute to low-level processing of observed actions (e.g., distinguishing types of grip)

but not directly to high-level action interpretation, such as inferring other people’s’ intentions

Question 2

Heyes & Catmur 2022 - Why is there no mirror neuron system found?

Answer 2

Because there was so much overlap in mirror neuron regions and they are found in lateralized arrangements across the brain, you cannot find discrete regions of a system - they don’t seem to behave in a cohesive system.

Question 3

Heyes & Catmur 2022 - Mirror Neurons - What shift in brain/behaviour was introduced with the discovery of mirror neurons?

Answer 3

Thinking more of the brain as a distributed network over localised regions (closer to lateralisation)

Question 4

Heyes & Catmur 2022 - What aspect of empathy could mirror neurons be involved in?

Answer 4

Affective empathy, processing of observed actions over inferring intentions (cognitive empathy).

Question 5

Heyes & Catmur 2022 - What role do mirror neurons play in the development of speech?

Answer 5

Mirror neurons are involved in the motor system, premotor mirror-neuron brain areas and primary motor cortex) in the discrimination of speech in perceptually noisy conditions

Question 6

Heyes & Catmur 2022 - What role do mirror neurons play in the development of imitative behaviours?

Answer 6

TMS, and fMRI studies have found strong evidence that mirror-neurons play a causal role in behavioral copying of body movements / aligns with low level processing of observed actions

Question 7

Heyes & Catmur 2022 - What role do mirror neurons play in autism?

Answer 7

Research has failed to find evidence for the broken-mirror theory of autism.

Instead, people with autism have stronger mirror responses than neurotypicals

Question 8

Heyes & Catmur 2022 - What type of learning are mirror neurons involved?

Answer 8

Domain-general visual-motor associative learning

Question 9

Heyes & Catmur 2022 - why were mirror neurons initially so popular and should their research be continued?

Answer 9

Atomism - Mirror neurons combine sensory and motor properties in a single unit - could be captivated by the idea that mirror neurons explain the complexities of the brain

Telepathy - they allow an effortless, word-less form of communication analogous to telepathy. Given ancient links between mirrors, oracles, and divination

Mirror neurons have produced substantial findings and should not be dismissed

Question 10

What is the aim of Murphy et al. (2022)?

Answer 10

To support conceptualizing empathy as a broad unfolding process, rather than a narrow state, argue against the RIM definition.

Question 11

What is the RIM definition of empathy?

Answer 11

Restrictive Isomorphic Matching Empathy

For empathy to have occurred, the empathiser must be in the same affective state as the object of empathy, “identify the emotion → feel the same emotion.”

Question 12

What is the more traditional view of empathy?

Answer 12

A multi-faceted process of understanding another person by imaginatively “feeling oneself” into that person’s subjective inner perspective.

sometimes feeling the same emotion and sometimes feeling a complementary emotion, such as warm caring or curiosity

Question 13

Why do Murphy et al. (2022) think that the broader definition of empathy has been phased out?

Answer 13

are complex, abstract, multi-faceted, and difficult to operational-ize, as some of these early figures themselves readily admit-ted.

Question 14

Why do they think RIM is popular?

Answer 14

RIM definition tidies the confusion up into a simple statement of “identify the emotion → feel the same emotion.”

Moreover, if empathy is about sharing the same emotional state of another person, then brain imaging can more easily be said to “capture” the core of empathic experience

Question 15

What do Murphy et al. (2022) conclude?

Answer 15

The RIM definition of empathic contagion should not be considered as the totality and requirement of empathy

The broad construct of empathy be understood as a combination of: (1) core empathy, the complex unfolding process of imaginatively experiencing world as if one were that person; and (2) interpersonal responsiveness

Question 16

What are 3 limitations of the Murphy et al. paper?

Answer 16

1. A neglect to consider more implicit forms of empathy due to individual differences in emotional expression, which may be equal in empathy to a more expressive person
2. A neglect to consider empathy as having different types, ie. affective, cognitive and empathetic concern, and examples that are more closely related to empathetic concern
3. Implications - The abandonment of RIM empathy would lead to empathy maybe being classified as having a much broader or even opposite response to another person, which sounds like just having an emotional response.