Book contents
- Looking Ahead
- Looking Ahead
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Setting the Stage
- Part II Psychological Theories
- Part III Mathematical Theories
- Part IV Neurobiological Theories
- Chapter 18 Wetware
- Chapter 19 Neuronal Overlap during Observation and Action
- Chapter 20 Forward Models in the Brain
- Chapter 21 Minimization of Prediction Errors by Self-Organizing Biological Systems
- Chapter 22 Information Processing Facilitated by Neural Rhythms
- Part V The Future of Prediction
- Notes
- Index
- References
Chapter 19 - Neuronal Overlap during Observation and Action
Prediction Involves Mirror Neurons
from Part IV - Neurobiological Theories
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 March 2025
Book contents
- Looking Ahead
- Looking Ahead
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Setting the Stage
- Part II Psychological Theories
- Part III Mathematical Theories
- Part IV Neurobiological Theories
- Chapter 18 Wetware
- Chapter 19 Neuronal Overlap during Observation and Action
- Chapter 20 Forward Models in the Brain
- Chapter 21 Minimization of Prediction Errors by Self-Organizing Biological Systems
- Chapter 22 Information Processing Facilitated by Neural Rhythms
- Part V The Future of Prediction
- Notes
- Index
- References
Summary
Mirror neurons fire while both performing and observing an action and enable us to understand and predict what others are doing. This function arises because a) the visual-motor matching of mirror neurons are a consequence of stimulus-response mapping mechanisms that transform sensory input of observing someone else’s action into a matching motor response, or b) we understand what we have done ourselves and what others are doing simply because action and action observation are coded in the same representational format, and mirror neurons are an instantiation of such common coding.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Looking AheadThe New Science of the Predictive Mind, pp. 208 - 219Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
References
Further Reading
Cook, R., Bird, G., Catmur, C., Press, C., & Heyes, C. (2014). Mirror neurons: From origin to function. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 37(2), 177–192.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hickok, G. (2014). The myth of mirror neurons: The real neuroscience of communication and cognition. W.W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Rizzolatti, G., Fadiga, L., Gallese, V., & Fogassi, L. (1996). Premotor cortex and the recognition of motor actions. Cognitive Brain Research, 3(2), 131–141.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed