Being Together in Time: Musical Experience and the Mirror Neuron System

Acting together in and beyond the mirror neuron system

Moving a set dinner table often takes two people, and doing so without spilling the glasses requires the close coordination of the two agents' actions. It has been argued that the mirror neuron system may be the key neural locus of such coordination. Instead, here we show that such coordination recruits two separable sets of areas: one that could translate between motor and visual codes and one...

The mirror-neuron system.

A category of stimuli of great importance for primates, humans in particular, is that formed by actions done by other individuals. If we want to survive, we must understand the actions of others. Furthermore, without action understanding, social organization is impossible. In the case of humans, there is another faculty that depends on the observation of others' actions: imitation learning. Unl...

The Mirror Neuron System

M irror neurons are a class of neurons, originally discovered in the premotor cortex of monkeys, that discharge both when individuals perform a given motor act and when they observe others perform that same motor act. Ample evidence demonstrates the existence of a cortical network with the properties of mirror neurons (mirror system) in humans. The human mirror system is involved in understandi...

The mirror-neuron system and action recognition

The mirror neuron system and action recognition.

Mirror neurons, first described in the rostral part of monkey ventral premotor cortex (area F5), discharge both when the animal performs a goal-directed hand action and when it observes another individual performing the same or a similar action. More recently, in the same area mirror neurons responding to the observation of mouth actions have been also found. In humans, through an fMRI study, i...