Psychology Dictionary of Arguments

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Mirror neurons: Mirror neurons are a type of brain cell that respond both when an individual performs an action and when they observe the same action performed by someone else. They are thought to play a role in understanding others' actions, intentions, and emotions, potentially underlying abilities like empathy and social learning. Their exact functions in humans are still being studied. See also Understanding, Actions, Behavior, Intersubjectivity, Other minds, Theory of Mind.
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Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments.

 
Author Concept Summary/Quotes Sources

Psychological Theories on Mirror Neurons - Dictionary of Arguments

Slater I 78
Mirror neurons/MN/psychological theories/Slater: The first reports on what are called “mirror neurons” (MN) (Dipellegrino et al. 1992(1); Rizolatti et al. 1996(2)). MNs are neurons in the primate brain that
Slater I 79
are activated, or fire, when they carry out an action, but the same set of neurons also fire when they see someone else carry out an action, even though they do not carry out the action themselves.
It has been suggested that MNs are the key to being human, and that the absence of the MN system may be part of the reason for highly autistic individuals’ inability to carry out appropriate social interactions with others. See Mukamel et al. (2010)(3).
>Autism
, >Behavior, >Observation, >Theory of Mind, >Other minds, >Intersubjectivity, >Social Behavior, >Understanding, >Interaction.
Slater I 80
Imitation/explanation/mirror neurons/Slater: MNs can only be part of the explanation [of imitation]. (…) Infants are able to imitate novel gestures, and imitation becomes increasingly flexible as development progresses.
>Imitation.

1. Dipellegrino, G. Fadiga, L. Galleses, V., & Forgassi, L. (1992). Understanding motor events – a neuropsychological study. Experimental Brain Research, 91, 176-180
2. Rizzolatti, G., Fadiga, L. Gallese, V., & Fogassi, L. (1996). Premotor cortex and the recognition of motor actions. Cognitive Brain Research, 3, 131-141
3. Mukamel, R. Ekstrom, A.D., Kaplan, J. Iacoboni, M., & Fried, I. (2010). Single-neuron responses in humans during execution and observation of action. Current Biology, 20, 1-7.


Alan M. Slater, “Imitation in Infancy. Revisiting Meltzoff and Moore’s (1977) Study”, in: Alan M. Slater and Paul C. Quinn (eds.) 2012. Developmental Psychology. Revisiting the Classic Studies. London: Sage Publications

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Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments
The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition.
Psychological Theories
Slater I
Alan M. Slater
Paul C. Quinn
Developmental Psychology. Revisiting the Classic Studies London 2012


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