If Mirror Neurons are the Answer, What was the Question?

Author: Borg, Emma

Source: Journal of Consciousness Studies, Volume 14, Number 8, 2007 , pp. 5-19(15)

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Abstract:

Mirror neurons are neurons which fire in two distinct conditions: (i) when an agent performs a specific action, like a precision grasp of an object using fingers, and (ii) when an agent observes that action performed by another. Some theorists have suggested that the existence of such neurons may lend support to the simulation approach to mindreading (e.g. Gallese and Goldman, 1998, 'Mirror neurons and the simulation theory of mind reading'). In this note I critically examine this suggestion, in both its original and a revised form (due to Iacoboni et al., 2005, 'Grasping the intentions of others with one's own mirror neuron system'), and argue that the existence of mirror neurons can in fact tell us very little about how intentional attribution actually proceeds.

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Philosophy Dept., University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AA, UK, Email: e.g.n.borg@reading.ac.uk

Publication date: 2007-01-01