The Role of The Mirror Nervous System: Cognition and Development

ROLE OF THE MIRROR NERVOUS SYSTEM (SOCIAL COGNITION):

The mirror nervous system consists of special brain cells, called ‘mirror neurons’, that are distributed in several areas of the brain. They are unique because they fire both in response to personal action and in response to actions of others: they mirror motor activity in other individuals. These are thought to be involved in social cognition, allowing us to interpret intention and emotion in others.

These mirror neurons allow an observer, and the person being observed, to have direct experiential understanding of each other, thus explaining how people emphasise with each other.

Mirror neurons may also play a role in TOM and perspective-taking: if mirror neurons fire in response to other’s actions and intentions this may give us a neural mechanism for experiencing and understanding other people’s perspectives and emotional states. This neural mechanism may allow us to interpret what others are thinking and feeling.

It has been suggested that a poor mirror system may explain ASD. Ramachandran and Oberman (2006) proposed the ‘broken mirror’ theory of ASD. This is the idea that neurological deficits prevent a child imitating and understanding social behaviour in others. Children diagnosed with ASD typically mimic adult behaviour less than others, and it has been proposed that problems with the mirror neuron system lead to difficulties in social communication as children fail to develop the usual abilities to read intention and emotion in others (all, of which, are characteristics of Autism).

EVALUATION OF THE ROLE OF THE MIRROR NERVOUS SYSTEM:

Strength:
P: There is evidence for the role of neurons in social cognition.
E: Haker et al (2012) demonstrated that an area of the brain rich in mirror neurons is involved in contagious yawning (which is widely seen as a simple example of human empathy)
E: This research supports the importance of mirror neurons in social cognition.

Weakness:
P: It is difficult to study mirror neuron activity precisely
E: Brain scanning techniques identify activity levels in regions of the brain, but not in individual brain cells. This means researchers measure activity in an area of the brain and then infer that this means activity in mirror neurons.
E: This therefore is a lack of direct evidence for mirror neuron activity, making the credibility questionable. 

Weakness:
P: There is mixed evidence for abnormal neuron function in ASD
E: Some studies have shown lower activity in brain areas associated with mirror neurons in participants with ASD. However, not all such findings have been replicated consistently.
E: Therefore, there is a lack of reliable evidence to support a link between mirror neurons and ASD.

Weakness:
P: There are even questions about whether mirror neurons exist at all
E: We only know mirror neurons by what they do – we can’t actually identify individual cells and point to their differences from other neurons
E: This is a challenge for mirror neuron research – can it be a valid and credible theory if the existence has to be questioned?