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Making a case for mirror-neuron system involvement in language development: What about autism and blindness?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2005

Hugo Théoret*
Affiliation:
Departement de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Centre Ville, Montreal, Qc H3C 3J7, Canada
Shirley Fecteau*
Affiliation:
Faculté de Médecine, Université de Montréal, Centre Ville, Montreal, Qc, H3C 3J7, Canada

Abstract:

The notion that manual gestures played an important role in the evolution of human language was strengthened by the discovery of mirror neurons in monkey area F5, the proposed homologue of human Broca's area. This idea is central to the thesis developed by Arbib, and lending further support to a link between motor resonance mechanisms and language/communication development is the case of autism and congenital blindness. We provide an account of how these conditions may relate to the aforementioned theory.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2005

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