The agranular architecture of motor cortex lacks a functional interpretation. Here, we consider a 'predictive coding' account of this unique feature based on asymmetries in hierarchical cortical connections. In sensory cortex, layer 4 (the granular layer) is the target of ascending pathways. We theorise that the operation of predictive coding in the motor system (a process termed 'active infere...

During the last years, a number of studies demonstrated that music listening (and even more so music production) activates a multitude of brain structures involved in cognitive, sensorimotor, and emotional processing. For example, music engages sensory processes, attention, memory-related processes, perception-action mediation ("mirror neuron system" activity), multisensory integration, activit...

Autism is a severe disease with no known cause and no cure or treatment. Recently, ourselves and subsequently others found that so-called "mirror neurons" - neurons that respond not only when a person moves, but upon observation of movement in another - are dysfunctional in autistic children. Here I suggest an easy, simple, inexpensive and fun method to improve mirror neuron functioning in auti...

Mirror neurons are brain systems found in monkeys and humans that respond similarly to actions and to the perception of actions of others. This paper explores the implications of mirror neurons for several important philosophical problems, including knowledge of other minds, the nature of empathy, and moral motivation. It argues that mirror neurons provide a more direct route to other minds, em...

The human mirror system has been the subject of much research over the past two decades, but little is known about the timecourse of mirror responses. In addition, it is unclear whether mirror and counter-mirror effects follow the same timecourse. We used single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation to investigate the timecourse of mirror and counter-mirror responses in the human brain. Exper...

How does music induce or evoke feeling states in listeners? A number of mechanisms have been proposed for how sounds induce emotions, including innate auditory responses, learned associations and mirror neuron processes. Inspired by ethology, it is suggested that the ethological concepts of signals, cues and indices offer additional analytic tools for better understanding induced affect. It is ...

Consistent evidence suggests that the way we reach and grasp an object is modulated not only by object properties (e.g., size, shape, texture, fragility and weight), but also by the types of intention driving the action, among which the intention to interact with another agent (i.e., social intention). Action observation studies ascribe the neural substrate of this 'intentional' component to th...

To understand the grounding of cognitive mechanisms in perception and action, we used a simple detection task to determine how long it takes to predict an action goal from the perception of grasp postures and whether this prediction is under strategic control. Healthy observers detected visual probes over small or large objects after seeing either a precision grip or a power grip posture. Altho...

Recognizing that the object-directed actions of others are governed by goals and intentions is a crucial component of human interaction. These actions often occur rapidly and without explanation, yet we learn from and predict the actions of others with remarkable speed and accuracy, even during the first year of life. This review paper will serve as a bridge between several disparate literature...

A direct form of experiential understanding of others, "intentional attunement", is achieved by modeling their behavior as intentional experiences on the basis of the activation of shared neural systems underpinning what the others do an feel and what we do and feel. This modeling mechanism is embodied simulation. In parallel with the detached sensory description of the observed social stimuli,...