Mirror neurons in humans: consisting or confounding evidence?
The widely known discovery of mirror neurons in macaques shows that premotor and parietal cortical areas are not only involved in executing one's own movement, but are also active when observing the action of others. The goal of this essay is to critically evaluate the substance of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) studies whose aim has been to reveal the presence of a parallel system in humans. An inspection of this literature suggests that there is relatively weak evidence for the existence of a circuit with 'mirror' properties in humans, such as that described in monkeys.
Turella
Luca
L
Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, 35131 Padova, Italy.
Pierno
Andrea C
AC
Tubaldi
Federico
F
Castiello
Umberto
U
D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D000882:Haplorhini; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods