Mirror Neurons and the Evolution of Brain and Language: 42 (Advances in Consciousness Research) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 9027251622 ISBN 13: 9789027251626

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Co, 2002

Synopsis

The emergence of language, social intelligence, and tool development are what made homo sapiens sapiens differentiate itself from all other biological species in the world. The use of language and the management of social and instrumental skills imply an awareness of intention and the consideration that one faces another individual with an attitude analogical to that of one’s own. The metaphor of ‘mirror’ aptly comes to mind.Recent investigations have shown that the human ability to ‘mirror’ other’s actions originates in the brain at a much deeper level than phenomenal awareness. A new class of neurons has been discovered in the premotor area of the monkey brain: ‘mirror neurons’. Quite remarkably, they are tuned to fire to the enaction as well as observation of specific classes of behavior: fine manual actions and actions performed by mouth. They become activated independent of the agent, be it the self or a third person whose action is observed. The activation in mirror neurons is automatic and binds the observation and enaction of some behavior by the self or by the observed other. The peculiar first-to-third-person ‘intersubjectivity’ of the performance of mirror neurons and their surprising complementarity to the functioning of strategic communicative face-to-face (first-to-second person) interaction may shed new light on the functional architecture of conscious vs. unconscious mental processes and the relationship between behavioral and communicative action in monkeys, primates, and humans.
The present volume discusses the nature of mirror neurons as presented by the research team of Prof. Giacomo Rizzolatti (University of Parma), who originally discovered them, and the implications to our understanding of the evolution of brain, mind and communicative interaction in non-human primates and man.(Series B)

About this title

Synopsis

This volume contains selected contributions to the symposium "Mirror Neurons and the Evolution of Brain and Language" that took place in 2000 in Delmenhorst, Germany. The aim of the symposium was to discuss the status of the contemporary scientific discovery of the so called "mirror neurons" and its potential consequences, more specifically from the point of view of our understanding of the evolution of the brain, aspects of intelligence and language from monkeys to primates to humans.

Edition details

• Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Co
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9027251622
• ISBN 13: 9789027251626
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400
• Editor: Stamenov Maxim I., Gallese Vittorio