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She argues that mirror neurons in humans are the product of social interaction and not an evolutionary adaptation for action-understanding. In particular, Heyes rejects the theory advanced by V.S. Ramachandran that mirror neurons have been "the driving force behind the great leap forward in human evolution." [12] [123]
The fact that mirror system activation is sensitive to sensorimotor expertise, provides a strong indication that the properties of mirror neurons are acquired through learning. Heyes and colleagues have also shown that a number of imitative effects, thought to be mediated by the mirror system, may be reversed through periods of 'counter-mirror ...
These sets of neurons are called mirror neurons and together make up the mirror neuron system. Mu waves are suppressed when these neurons fire, a phenomenon which allows researchers to study mirror neuron activity in humans. [10] There is evidence that mirror neurons exist in humans as well as in non-human animals.
The activation of mirror neurons takes place within the individual who begins to mirror another's movements and allows them a greater connection and understanding with the individual who they are mirroring, as well as allowing the individual who is being mirrored to feel a stronger connection with the other individual. [16]
In 2000, Ramachandran made what he called some "purely speculative conjectures" that "mirror neurons [in humans] will do for psychology what DNA did for biology: they will provide a unifying framework and help explain a host of mental abilities that have hitherto remained mysterious and inaccessible to experiments." [40]
Mirror neurons, first discovered in macaque frontoparietal cortex, fire when actions are either performed or observed. [6] In humans, similar sensorimotor "mirroring" responses have been found in the brain regions listed below, which are collectively referred to as MNS.
Mirror neurons do not respond to actions undertaken by tools like pliers. [4] Mirror neurons respond to neither the sight of an object alone nor to an action without an object (intransitive action). Umilta and colleagues demonstrated that a subset of mirror neurons fired in the observer when a final critical part of the action was not visible ...
fMRI studies in humans have been gathering evidence that mirror neurons are responsible for the "Physical to self-mapping" [31] In studies where participants had to identify their own face, right hemispheric mirror neurons activated indicating responsibility for the ability of one to represent one’s own physical actions/states. These same ...