What Are Mirror Neurons

Mirror neurons are neurons that fire both when an agent performs an action and when the agent observes the same action performed by someone else.

What are mirror neurons. As any teacher will tell you a language cant strictly be taught from a textbook. Mirror neurons were discovered about 20 years ago in the monkey brain and there is now evidence that they are also present in the human brain. Gregory Hickok at the University of California Irvine thinks the function of mirror neurons is not about understanding others actions per se but about using others actions in the process of.

Thus the neuron mirrors the behavior of the other as though the observer were itself acting. Such neurons have been directly observed in primate species. Birds have been shown to have imitative resonance behaviors and neurological evidence suggests the.

During the ensuing two decades this serendipitous discovery of mirror neuronsa special class of brain cells that fire not only when an individual performs an action but also when the individual observes someone else make the same movementhas radically altered the way we think about our brains and ourselves particularly our social selves. A mirror neuron is a neuron which fires both when an animal performs an action and when the animal observes the same action performed by another especially conspecific animal. What are mirror neurons.

That is to live them in their own skin. A mirror neuron is a neuron that fires both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another. These neurons respond to someone elses action just as if you yourself were doing it.

What makes them distinct is that they fire both when performing a certain action and observing another person especially of the same species perform that action. Ever since the discovery of mirror neurons those central nervous system cells have been of great interest to neuroscientists psychologists and neurology specialists alike. Mirror neuron type of sensory-motor cell located in the brain that is activated when an individual performs an action or observes another individual performing the same action.

Mirror neurons are essential for imitation which is key in the learning process. Thus the neurons mirror others actions. There is very little conclusive evidence that mirror neurons exist in the human.