Mirror Neurons And Intention Detection

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Intention Detection and Mirror Neurons

Xuan Zhao zhaoxuanzju@gmail.com

CONTENT

Terms used in mind perception?

What is Mirror Neuron System (MNS)?

How was MNS discovered and proved to be related with intention detection?

What are components of Core Social Imitating System?

How it works?

Terms Used in Mind Perception

Empathy: ‘Feeling inside’ in Latin

Theory Of Mind (TOM):

Seeing both oneself and others as subjective beings with minds and mental states. Going beyond the sensory into the mental.

Mentalizing

Mind-Reading

Intentionality: ‘about something else’ in presentation

Intention

Intersubjectivity

Three theories to explain TOM

Module theory: a theory of mind module (TOMM)

Separate from but builds on other mental abilities that may be shared with non-human primates and other mammals. Only humans have a complete TOMM.

Theory theories:

TOM abilities develop as a primitive, implicit theory over the course of development.

Abrupt changes in behavior and understanding of their own minds.

Simulation theory:

Understand other minds by internally simulating their mental states in each situation.

The dual responsiveness of mirror neurons to self- and other- generated action could be taken as support.

Mirror Neuron System (MNS)

A collection of cortical neurons that allow humans to understand the intentions of others from observation of their actions.

1)

2)

They fire when:

A particular action is perceived

The observer performs the same action.

Discovered in the frontal cortex and parietal cortex of macaque monkeys.

Discovery of Mirror Neurons

Giacomo Rizzolatti et al.

Premotor cortex and the recognition of motor actions. Cognitive Brain Research 3

(1996):131-141

Mirror neurons in F5 (Part of the frontal motor area)

(Tammer et al., 2006)

Discovery of Mirror Neurons

Responded when:

Experimenter grasped peanuts placed on a board.

Monkey grasped the peanuts.

Monkey grasped peanuts in darkness

Didn’t respond when:

Peanuts were alone on board.

The experimenter grasped peanuts with a tool

Giacomo Rizzolatti et al. Premotor cortex and the recognition of motor actions. Cognitive Brain Research 3 (1996):131-141

To rule out possibilities of monkey-experimenter interaction or food expectancy.

Giacomo Rizzolatti et al. Premotor cortex and the recognition of motor actions. Cognitive Brain Research 3 (1996):131-141

Evidence for Human MNS

Giacomo Rizzolatti et al. Motor and cognitive functions of the ventral premotor cortex. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 2002, 12:149–154

Brodmann area 44 in the left hemisphere:

Broca’s area (cortical speech area)

Mirror neuron capabilities involving representation of actions with the hand and arm.

Broca’s area has mixed abilities.

(Rizzolatti et al., 2002)

Action Recognition or Intention Detection?

Does the MNS respond to the act regardless of context

(action recognition), or does it respond to acts in particular contexts (intention detection)?

Studies of human acts carried out in different contexts show that actions are embedded in contexts.

 Marco Iacoboni, Istvan Molnar-Szakacs, Vittorio Gallese, Giovanni Buccino, John C. Mazziotta, Giacomo

Rizzolatti. Grasping Intentions with Mirror Neurons. PLoS Biol 3(3): e79

 Marco Iacoboni, Istvan Molnar-Szakacs, Vittorio Gallese, Giovanni Buccino, John C. Mazziotta, Giacomo

Rizzolatti. Grasping Intentions with Mirror Neurons. PLoS Biol 3(3): e79

Significant fMRI increase in the posterior part of the inferior frontal gyrus

(Iacoboni et al., 2005)

Automaticity of Intention Detection

Does the conscious goal to infer intention matter to the activity of the MNS?

Explicit group:

Watch video clips with instructions of inferring the intention of the action.

Implicit group:

Simply watch without instructions

Results:

Increased activity in the anterior cingulate gyrus for Explicit group.

No difference between the groups in activity in the inferior frontal gyrus.

Mirror Neurons in IPC

In macaque monkeys (Fogassi et al. ,2005)

Results of microelectrode studies in the inferior parietal cortex (IPC).

In humans (Decety et al., 2002)

Left IPC is activated when we imitate actions that we observed in others;

Right IPC is activated when we observe others imitating us.

(Cartographers: Fu and Baars)

Core Social Imitation System

1. Superior temporal sulcus (STS) creates a higher-order visual representation of the observed action.

2. Fed forward to the frontoparietal

MNS to code the goal of action and the motor specification for the action.

3. Return to STS to match between the expected sensory consequences of the action and the visually observed actions takes place.

(Iacoboni et al., 2005)

Imitation Learning

Two roles of the mirror neuron system:

Imitation Learning

Imitation learning occurs when we observe others performing an action and then recreate that action ourselves.

Social mirroring

(Iacoboni et al., 2005. Cartographers: Fu and Baars)

Social Mirroring

Wicker et al. (2003a):

Insula and the anterior

cingulate cortex (part of the limbic system) are activated in participants who experience the emotion of disgust or watch another person experiencing disgust.

(Iacoboni et al., 2005. Cartographers: Fu and Baars)

(Iacoboni et al., 2005)

Reference

Bernard J. Baars, Nicole M. Gage. Cognition, Brain, and Consciousness. Elsevier Ltd. 2007.

Giacomo Rizzolatti et al. Premotor cortex and the recognition of motor actions. Cognitive Brain Research 3.

1996:131-141\

R. Tammer , L. Ehrenreich , S. Boretius , T. Watanabe , J. Frahm , T. Michaelis. Compatibility of glass-guided recording microelectrodes in the brain stem of squirrel monkeys with high-resolution 3D MRI. Journal of Neuroscience

Methods. 2006, 153(2): 221-229

Giacomo Rizzolatti et al. Motor and cognitive functions of the ventral premotor cortex. Current Opinion in

Neurobiology. 2002, 12:149–154

Marco Iacoboni, Istvan Molnar-Szakacs, Vittorio Gallese, Giovanni Buccino, John C. Mazziotta, Giacomo Rizzolatti.

Grasping Intentions with Mirror Neurons. PLoS Biol 3(3): e79

Leonardo Fogassi, Pier Francesco Ferrari, Benno Gesierich, Stefano Rozzi,Fabian Chersi, Giacomo Rizzolatti. Parietal

Lobe: From Action Organization to Intention Understanding. Science. 2005, 308. no. 5722, pp. 662 – 667.

J. Decety, T. Chaminade, J. Grèzes and A. N. Meltzoff. A PET Exploration of the Neural Mechanisms Involved in

Reciprocal Imitation. NeuroImage. 2002,15(1):265-272.

THANK YOU!

Xuan Zhao zhaoxuanzju@gmail.com

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