Tinbergen on mirror neurons

Tinbergen on mirror neurons.

Fifty years ago, Niko Tinbergen defined the scope of behavioural biology with his four problems: causation, ontogeny, survival value and evolution. About 20 years ago, there was another highly significant development in behavioural biology-the discovery of mirror neurons (MNs). Here, I use Tinbergen's original four problems (rather than the list that appears in textbooks) to highlight the diffe...

What do mirror neurons mirror?

Mirror neurons

The term mirror neurons originally referred to neurons in the ventral premotor cortex of macaque monkeys (area F5, Figure 1a) that have the particularity of responding both when the monkey performs a particular action (e.g., grasping a peanut) and when the monkey perceives another individual performing a similar action. More recently the term mirror has been extended to areas of the human brain...

Mirror neurons

Computational models of neural networks (structured by brain regions) homology monkey human Descending influences of evolved extensions on basic homologues

mirror neurons and observational learning

in past, the relationship between traditional learning theories and neurophysiological theories wasn’t a close relationship. recently, new findings in neurological sciences showed relatively simple neuron mechanisms for somewhat complicated learning events, for example observational learning, one of which is mirror neurons. these neurons show that how the brain registers the activity observed a...