What is your doctor doing with this to help your recovery?
What Do Mirror Neurons Really Do? (BSP 112)
Ever since their chance
discovery back in 1992 mirror neurons have captured the imagination of
both scientists and nonscientists, but their actual role remains mostly
speculative. In The Myth of Mirror Neurons: The Real Neuroscience of Communication and Cognition Dr. Gregory Hickok
(UC-Irvine) explains why the most popular theory is probably wrong. He
also provides a fascinating account of how science is really done and
the sobering lesson that scientists can fall prey to the same cognitive
biases (and tendencies toward laziness) that plague all humans.
I first discussed the discovery of mirror neurons back in BSP 35 when I featured Mirrors in the brain: How our minds share actions, emotions, and experience
(2008) by Giacomo Rizzolatti and Corrado Sinigaglia. At that time what I
found most fascinating was that since mirror neurons fire both when a
subject (usually a monkey) performs an action and when a similar action
is observed, this proves that single neurons are not necessarily purely
motor or purely sensory. This surprising discovery seems to have been
overshadowed in the rush to use mirror neurons to explain everything
from autism to language evolution.
The latest Brain Science Podcast (BSP 112) features an interview with Dr. Gregory Hickok. BSP 35 is also available for FREE via the Brain Science Podcast Mobile APP.
This is probably only available free for the next couple of months.
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