Elsevier

NeuroImage

Volume 51, Issue 2, June 2010, Pages 789-791
NeuroImage

Comments and Controversies
Mesmerising mirror neurons

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.02.034Get rights and content

Abstract

Mirror neurons have been hailed as the key to understanding social cognition. I argue that three currents of thought—relating to evolution, atomism and telepathy—have magnified the perceived importance of mirror neurons. When they are understood to be a product of associative learning, rather than an adaptation for social cognition, mirror neurons are no longer mesmerising, but they continue to raise important questions about both the psychology of science and the neural bases of social cognition.

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