Mirror neurons and the social nature of language: The neural exploitation hypothesis

Abstract

This paper discusses the relevance of the discovery of mirror neurons in monkeys and of the mirror neuron system in humans to a neuroscientific account of primates' social cognition and its evolution. It is proposed that mirror neurons and the functional mechanism they underpin, embodied simulation, can ground within a unitary neurophysiological explanatory framework important aspects of human social cognition. In particular, the main focus is on language, here conceived according to a neurophenomenological perspective, grounding meaning on the social experience of action. A neurophysiological hypothesis *the ''neural exploitation hypothesis'' *is introduced to explain how key aspects of human social cognition are underpinned by brain mechanisms originally evolved for sensorimotor integration. It is proposed that these mechanisms were later on adapted as new neurofunctional architecture for thought and language, while retaining their original functions as well. By neural exploitation, social cognition and language can be linked to the experiential domain of action.

Vision, action and language unified through embodiment

“…Strong support for the close link between vision, action and language comes from studies which highlight how language processing and comprehension make use of neural systems ordinarily used for perception and action (Lakoff, 1987;Zwaan, 2004;Barsalou, 1999;Glenberg & Robertson, 1999;Gallese, 2008;Glenberg, 2010). For example, when humans process the word ''cup'' they seem to reenact (and therefore internally simulate) many of the perceptual, motor and affective representations related to a cup (Barsalou, 1999).…”

Visual attention and action: How cueing, direct mapping, and social interactions drive orienting

“…Specifically, it has been argued that mirror neurons enable action understanding by directly matching observed motor representations with those for performance of the same action, a position known as the direct matching hypothesis (Gallese, 2007). The action understanding afforded by this mechanism is thought to have a role in social processes such as empathy, theory of mind, language, and social attention (Gallese, 2008;Iacoboni, 2009;Williams, Whiten, Suddendorf, & Perrett, 2001). However, these theories have been criticised on both empirical and theoretical grounds.…”

Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use and representation in the brain

“…This challenge has become particularly topical in recent years, due in large part to the development of embodied and grounded theories of cognition (e.g. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]). In the past few years a number of embodied proposals have been advanced, aiming to show that abstract concepts are grounded in the sensorimotor system, like concrete concepts.…”