Student Psychology Journal Volume Ii Mirror Neurons: Our Current Understanding

Mirror neurons are a relatively new phenomena, first observed in the premotor cortex of macaque monkeys when a number of neurons were observed to respond both when a monkey performed a goal orientated task, and when the monkey watched another (human or monkey) perform that task. A number of researchers have suggested that mirror neurons also exist in humans. It is proposed that a human mirror neuron system may contribute to a number of cognitive functions such as action understanding; ‘theory of mind’, humans’ abilities to infer another’s mental state through experiences or others’ behaviour; emotion understanding; imitation; and speech perception. Faulty human mirror neurons have even been suggested to underpin social impairments such as those characteristic of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, there has been much debate regarding the existence and functional roles of mirror neurons in humans. While there is much literature regarding human mirror neurons, the majority consist of reviews while few concern empirical experiments. Additionally concern has been expressed for some of the experimental methods used in empirical studies. A recent experiment from Mukamel et al. (2010) is the first of its kind to directly gather evidence for the existence of mirror neurons in humans and for their function subserving action understanding. The present review critically outlines the growth in this controversial field of research, taking into account the recent direct recording of human mirror neurons, and what implications this may have on our understanding of social cognition.