Discuss mirror neurons, including where they are located, how they were discovered, what their functions are in humans and primates, and how a particular childhood disorder may be caused by damages to these neurons

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer will include that mirror neurons become active when we perform an action and when we merely observe someone else carrying out the same action. The motor cortex is one brain area that contains mirror neurons. Regarding the discovery of mirror neurons, Italian researchers had just recorded an increase in the activity of a single neuron in the motor cortex of a monkey as it reached for food. A few seconds later, one of the researchers happened to reach for a snack of his own. The same neuron again responded as if the monkey had reached for the food itself. Thus, the observation that a neuron involved in controlling a particular motor movement was also activated when the monkey merely observed that same motor movement in someone else led to the discovery of mirror neurons. Because they mirror actions performed by others, such neurons may explain how we can intuitively understand other people's behavior. They may also underlie our ability to learn new skills by imitation. Neuroscientists speculate that newborn humans (and monkeys) are able to imitate others because networks of mirror neurons are activated when an infant watches someone perform an action. Then, the same mirror network can be used to perform that action. Similarly, human empathy (the ability to identify with another person's experiences and feelings) may arise from activation of mirror neurons. Mirror neurons may even partially explain autism spectrum disorders. In early childhood, children with autism begin to suffer from an impaired ability to interact and communicate with other people. Restricted and repetitive behavior, such as head banging, is also common. According to the broken mirrors hypothesis, autism may arise in infants whose mirror neuron system has been damaged by genetic defects or environmental risk factors. This explanation is attractive because autism's primary features of impaired communication and social interaction appear to be related to the role that mirror neurons play in reflecting the actions and words of others. To date, these are just hypotheses that await empirical confirmation. More importantly, such possibilities are only just now leading to proposals for new therapies for autism.