Mirror neuron

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A mirror neuron (plural: mirror neurons or mirror neurons ) is a nerve cell that shows the same pattern of activity in the brain of primates when "viewing" a process as when it was "performing" it. Noises that are linked to a specific action through previous learning also cause the same activity pattern in a mirror neuron as a corresponding actual action. Since it was first described in 1992, it has been debated whether mirror neurons are involved in behavioral patterns of imitation or possibly even compassion ( empathy ) in primates.

Typical gripping movements of macaques when feeding

overview

These cells were described for the first time in 1992 by the Italian Giacomo Rizzolatti and his colleagues in macaques . The previous year, a publication in the journal Nature had been rejected because the findings were "not of general interest". It was found in these studies that neurons in the F5c field of the cerebrum reacted both when certain target motor hand-object interactions were carried out themselves and when they were only observed in another animal - or even in a human.

In 2002, the possibility of a mirror neuron system ( Brodmann area 44) was discussed in humans, which was associated with action recognition and imitation. 2010 saw the first direct evidence of mirror neurons in humans.

Categories

The discoverers divided the observed mirror neurons into two groups.

  • Strictly Congruent ( strictly congruent ), about a third, fired only in the same way, if the observed or self-running actions both in their general type - for example gripping - as well as their specific feature , for example - pulling out from a hole were identical - .
  • Coarse Congruent ( broadly congruent ), about two-thirds, fired even in the same way, if the observed or even executed actions similar to or were in the same context or with the same goal happened.

In humans

The examination of individual neurons in humans is only possible in exceptional cases. These include operations on the brain as a last medical resort, e.g. B. in otherwise untreatable epilepsy . For the purpose of precise localization, the patient is temporarily implanted with depth electrodes in the regions that have previously been identified as the likely sources of the disorder by other methods. In such cases it is often possible without additional risk - with the prior consent of the patient - to use the electrodes set according to purely medical criteria for additional scientific measurements.

So far (February 2015), however, no neurons have been examined in humans in the areas that correspond to the known mirror neuron areas in macaques. The simple reason is that epilepsy foci rarely occur here. Nevertheless, measurements in other areas in humans could be useful, since the regional distribution of mirror neurons in all species is still an open question.

In 2010, data from 1177 neuron leads (665 single cells, 512 cell groups) from 21 patients were published. A small number of mirror neurons were found. In addition, anti-mirror neurons were found, i.e. those that behaved in opposite ways when observed and performed by yourself.

Consequences of the discovery

The effects of the discovery of mirror neurons differed markedly from those of other significant discoveries in brain research, for example with regard to senile plaques (deposits) in Alzheimer's disease or with regard to prions (harmful protein variants ) in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and BSE ( "Mad cow disease").

history

Investigations into possible functions of the mirror neurons have not yet been published (February 2015), although there are various neurophysiological methods to temporarily block these neurons pharmacologically or by molecular genetic switching methods for targeted tests . Nevertheless, from the very beginning, the discoverers have repeatedly spread far-reaching hypotheses about a possible function of these neurons in the automatic understanding of other living beings.

Long before mirror neurons were even detected in humans, a possible connection with hypothetical mirror neuron systems - often with great exuberance - was shown in a large number of studies of human brain activity using imaging methods . This happened despite the fact that it is well known that these methods map the activity of huge associations of neurons. They do not offer the slightest information about the behavior of individual neurons. In this case, cumulative information is also worthless because the mirror neurons form only a small minority within their network with neighboring cells.

Lay and mass coarsening subsequently led to an avalanche of fantasies through to extreme ideas, such as Jeremy Rifkin's “empathic civilization”. According to this, “mirror neurons in the human brain would hold basic structures ready for the construction of the emotional world.” His statements are viewed critically by reviewers.

Neutral neuroscientists who researched other, albeit related, topics took part late with public contributions, but then with increasingly decisive criticism. David Poeppel, a specialist in the neurobiology of language at New York University , summarized his assessment as follows:

"The cells are there, but what they are good for and what they do, we don't know at all."

Example compassion (empathy)

Microscopic image of a mouse pyramidal neuron ( cerebral cortex ) expressing green fluorescent protein . The red antibody coloring shows GABA -producing interneurons . Scale bar: 100 µm (= 0.1 mm)

The conclusion by analogy that there could be mirror neurons not only for body but also for emotional movements was so obvious that it spread even faster than actual observations. So far (February 2015), however, there are no findings about possible feeling mirror neurons for any species. However, the possibility of a relationship between motor mirror neurons and compassion is discussed - as a possibility .

Fundamental objection to a mirror concept at neuron level

The neurophysiologically oriented philosopher Patricia Churchland considered the idea that mirror neurons could play a kind of perpetrator role in understanding other people or living beings as a typical fallacy with a long philosophical tradition. A neuron can be networked in many ways, but it is not an intelligent agent ( homunculus ). Highly complex things, like the intentions of others, could only be represented in at least as complex neural networks.

See also

literature

Working group of the explorers

  • Giacomo Rizzolatti , Corrado Sinigaglia: So quel che fai: il cervello che agisce ei neuroni specchio , Verlag Cortina Raffaello 2006, 216 pages ISBN 8860300029 .
    • Giacomo Rizzolatti, Corrado Sinigaglia: Mirrors in the Brain. How Our Minds Share Actions and Emotions . Translated by Frances Anderson, Oxford University Press 2007, 256 pp. ISBN 0191030805 .
    • Giacomo Rizzolatti, Corrado Sinigaglia: Empathy and Mirror Neurons: The Biological Basis of Compassion . Translated by Friedrich Griese. Frankfurt a. M .: Suhrkamp 2008, 229 pp. ISBN 3-518-26011-1 .
  • Christian Keysers : The Empathic Brain. How the Discovery of Mirror Neurons Changes Our Understanding of Human Nature , Lexington, Ky. Social Brain Press, 2011, 246 pp. ISBN 978-1463769062 .
    • Christian Keysers: Our empathic brain: why we understand what others feel . Translated by Hainer Kober. Bertelsmann Munich 2013, 320 pp. ISBN 978-3-570-00954-3 .
  • Giacomo Rizzolatti, L. Fogassi, V. Gallese: Motor and cognitive functions of the ventral premotor cortex. In: Current opinion in neurobiology. Volume 12, Number 2, April 2002, ISSN  0959-4388 , pp. 149-154, PMID 12015230 (review).
  • Giacomo Rizzolatti, M. Fabbri-Destro: Mirror neurons: from discovery to autism. In: Experimental brain research. Volume 200, Number 3-4, January 2010, ISSN  1432-1106 , pp. 223-237, doi : 10.1007 / s00221-009-2002-3 , PMID 19760408 (review).

Other neuroscientists

  • Gregory Hickok: The Myth of Mirror Neurons: The Real Neuroscience of Communication and Cognition , WW Norton & Company, 2014, 288 pp. ISBN 0393244164 .
    • Gregory Hickok: Why We Understand What Others Feel: The Myth of Mirror Neurons. Translated by Elsbeth Ranke, Carl Hanser Verlag Munich 2015, 368 pages, ISBN 978-3-446-44312-9 .
  • I. Dinstein, C. Thomas, M. Behrmann, DJ Heeger: A mirror up to nature. In: Current biology: CB. Volume 18, number 1, January 2008, ISSN  0960-9822 , pp. R13-R18, doi : 10.1016 / j.cub.2007.11.004 , PMID 18177704 , PMC 2517574 (free full text) (review).
  • G. Hickok: Eight problems for the mirror neuron theory of action understanding in monkeys and humans. In: Journal of cognitive neuroscience. Volume 21, number 7, July 2009, ISSN  0898-929X , pp. 1229-1243, doi : 10.1162 / jocn.2009.21189 , PMID 19199415 , PMC 2773693 (free full text) (review).
  • PB Pascolo, R. Budai, R. Rossi: Critical review of the research leading to the mirror neuron paradigm - biomed 2010. In: Biomedical sciences instrumentation. Volume 46, 2010, ISSN  0067-8856 , pp. 422-427, PMID 20467117 (review).
  • C. Heyes: Where do mirror neurons come from? In: Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews. Volume 34, Number 4, March 2010, ISSN  1873-7528 , pp. 575-583, doi : 10.1016 / j.neubiorev.2009.11.007 , PMID 19914284 (review).
  • C. Lamm, J. Majdandžić: The role of shared neural activations, mirror neurons, and morality in empathy - A critical comment. In: Neuroscience research. Volume 90C, January 2015, ISSN  1872-8111 , pp. 15-24, doi : 10.1016 / j.neures.2014.10.008 , PMID 25455743 (review) (free full text).

Web links

Wiktionary: Mirror neuron  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ E. Kohler, C. Keysers, MA Umiltà, L. Fogassi, V. Gallese, G. Rizzolatti : Hearing sounds, understanding actions: action representation in mirror neurons. In: Science. Volume 297, number 5582, August 2002, ISSN  1095-9203 , pp. 846-848, (free full text) doi : 10.1126 / science.1070311 , PMID 12161656 .
  2. ^ G. di Pellegrino, L. Fadiga, L. Fogassi, V. Gallese, G. Rizzolatti : Understanding motor events: a neurophysiological study. In: Experimental brain research. Volume 91, Number 1, 1992, ISSN  0014-4819 , pp. 176-180, PMID 1301372 .
  3. ↑ G. Rizzolatti , M. Fabbri-Destro: Mirror neurons: from discovery to autism. In: Experimental brain research. Volume 200, Number 3-4, January 2010, ISSN  1432-1106 , pp. 223-237, doi : 10.1007 / s00221-009-2002-3 , PMID 19760408 (review).
  4. ↑ G. Rizzolatti , L. Fogassi, V. Gallese: motor and cognitive functions of the ventral premotor cortex. In: Current opinion in neurobiology. Volume 12, Number 2, April 2002, ISSN  0959-4388 , pp. 149-154, PMID 12015230 (review).
  5. ↑ a b R. Mukamel, AD Ekstrom, J. Kaplan, M. Iacoboni, I. Fried: Single-neuron responses in humans during execution and observation of actions. In: Current biology: CB. Volume 20, number 8, April 2010, ISSN  1879-0445 , pp. 750-756, doi : 10.1016 / j.cub.2010.02.045 , PMID 20381353 , PMC 2904852 (free full text).
  6. ^ V. Gallese, L. Fadiga, L. Fogassi, G. Rizzolatti : Action recognition in the premotor cortex. In: Brain: a journal of neurology. Volume 119 (Pt 2), April 1996, ISSN  0006-8950 , pp. 593-609, PMID 8800951 (free full text).
  7. ^ JH Martin, C. Ghez: Pharmacological inactivation in the analysis of the central control of movement. In: Journal of neuroscience methods. Volume 86, Number 2, January 1999, ISSN  0165-0270 , pp. 145-159, PMID 10065983 (review).
  8. ↑ L. Luo, EM Callaway, K. Svoboda: Genetic dissection of neural circuits. In: Neuron. Volume 57, number 5, March 2008, ISSN  1097-4199 , pp. 634-660, doi : 10.1016 / j.neuron.2008.01.002 , PMID 18341986 , PMC 2628815 (free full text) (review).
  9. ↑ Jeremy Rifkin: The Empathic Civilization: Paths to Global Consciousness. Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt / New York 2010, ISBN 3-593-38512-0 . Review .
  10. ↑ I feel very empathetic in the FAZ
  11. ↑ Empathize with others on Deutschlandfunk
  12. ↑ I. Dinstein, C. Thomas, M. Behrmann, DJ Heeger: A mirror up to nature. In: Current biology: CB. Volume 18, number 1, January 2008, ISSN  0960-9822 , pp. R13-R18, doi : 10.1016 / j.cub.2007.11.004 , PMID 18177704 , PMC 2517574 (free full text) (review).
  13. ↑ G. Hickok: Eight problems for the mirror neuron theory of action understanding in monkeys and humans. In: Journal of cognitive neuroscience. Volume 21, number 7, July 2009, ISSN  0898-929X , pp. 1229-1243, doi : 10.1162 / jocn.2009.21189 , PMID 19199415 , PMC 2773693 (free full text) (review).
  14. ^ PB Pascolo, R. Budai, R. Rossi: Critical review of the research leading to the mirror neuron paradigm - biomed 2010. In: Biomedical sciences instrumentation. Volume 46, 2010, ISSN  0067-8856 , pp. 422-427, PMID 20467117 (review).
  15. ↑ C. Heyes: Where do mirror neurons come from? In: Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews. Volume 34, Number 4, March 2010, ISSN  1873-7528 , pp. 575-583, doi : 10.1016 / j.neubiorev.2009.11.007 , PMID 19914284 (review).
  16. ↑ V. Kosonogov: Why the Mirror Neurons Can not Support Action Understanding. In: Neurophysiology. 44, 2012, pp. 499-502, doi : 10.1007 / s11062-012-9327-4 .
  17. ↑ Gregory Hickok: Why We Understand What Others Feel: The Myth of Mirror Neurons. Translated by Elsbeth Ranke. Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich 2015, 368 pages, ISBN 3446443266 . Original: The Myth of Mirror Neurons: The Real Neuroscience of Communication and Cognition , WW Norton & Company, 2014, 288 pp. ISBN 0393244164 .
  18. ↑ a b C. Lamm, J. Majdandžić: The role of shared neural activations, mirror neurons, and morality in empathy - A critical comment. In: Neuroscience research. Volume 90C, January 2015, ISSN  1872-8111 , pp. 15-24, doi : 10.1016 / j.neures.2014.10.008 , PMID 25455743 (free full text) (review).
  19. ↑ David Poeppel, in: Werner Siefer: The cells of the offense : Page 2/4: There is a huge abyss between fantasy and experimental evidence. In: Die Zeit , December 17, 2010, online
  20. ↑ Patricia S. Churchland : Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality . Princeton University Press 2011, 288 pp. ISBN 1400838088 , p. 142.