Imagining and Imaging the Social Brain: The Case of Mirror Neurons.
Susan Lanzoni
Canadian bulletin of medical history = Bulletin canadien d'histoire de la medecine September 7, 2016 DOI: 10.3138/cbmh.33.2.151-27012015 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Humans Imitative behavior Social behavior Emotions Empathy Neurosciences Models, psychological Mirror neurons Simulation Imitation Embodied cognition Social neuroscience Social brain Neurones miroirs Empathie Cerveau sociale Cognition incarnée Disease identity Maladie et identité Neuroscience sociale Social psychologie |
| Key points | Argues that neuroscientists studying mirror neurons have imported, adapted, and interpreted psychological and philosophical models of simulation, embodied cognition, and early 20th-century pragmatism and phenomenology to theorize empathy, imitation, and social understanding, and that neuroscience's dependence on social science methods and findings has drawn comparatively little attention. |
Abstract
In a contemporary setting in which all things "neuro" have great cultural sway, an analysis of the ways in which neuroscience is indebted to the methods and findings of the social sciences has received less attention. Indeed, in the new specialization of social neuroscience, neuroscientists now collaborate with contemporary psychologists and invoke historical psychological theories to help theorize empathy and social understanding. This article examines the overlap between psychological frameworks of social emotion and neuroscience in the case of mirror neurons, discovered in the 1990s. Some neuroscientists purport that mirror neurons underlie the social behaviours of imitation and empathy, and have found support for this view of theories of simulation and embodied cognition. They have also invoked pragmatic and phenomenological approaches to mind and behaviour dating back to the early 20th century. Neuroscientists have thus imported, adapted, and interpreted psychological models to help define social understanding, empathy, and imitation in many imaging studies.