Mirror neurons: Enigma of the metaphysical modular brain

Acharya, Sourya; Shukla, Samarth

doi:10.4103/0976-9668.101878

Cited by 76 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(26 reference statements)

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“…Based on neurological theory, which explains the relationships between body, mind, and environment, quantitative resemblance is based on the possibility that brain stimulation enhanced the neural drive of group members. Such fact is supported by the Hebbian theory in which simultaneous activation of cells leads to pronounced increases in synaptic strength between those cells 15 . As a consequence, this restructuring could have resulted in enhanced interpretation of the stimuli that people with autism had to process.…”

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confidence: 48%

“…Moreover, Molnar-Szakacs et al 6 described neuroimaging studies that investigated the imitation of emotional facial expressions, and showed that children with autism have virtually no activity in mirror neurons compared with children in the control group. However, studies with functional magnetic resonance imaging ( fMRI) suggest that a much larger network of brain areas show mirror properties in humans than previously thought 15 . The results presented suggest that the mirror neurons of these individuals are present in the cortical area measured, and are reactive to emotional processing situations.…”

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confidence: 93%

“…More recently, Acharya and Shukla 15 presented the idea that autism is characterized by two neuropsychiatric abnormalities. The first is about defects in the social-cognitive domain, which presents as mental aloneness, a lack of contact with the external world, and lack of empathy.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Brain stimulation used as biofeedback in neuronal activation of the temporal lobe area in autistic children

Silva

Calomeni

Nunes

et al. 2016

Arq. Neuro-Psiquiatr.

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ARTICLE Brain stimulation used as biofeedback in neuronal activation of the temporal lobe area in autistic childrenEstimulação cerebral usada como biofeedback na ativação neural do lobo temporal em crianças autistas Thus, it is generally accepted that individuals with some form of ASD display at least some impairment in recognizing emotions through facial expressions 4 , although there are a host of inconsistent results 5 . However, the automatic mirroring of affective gestures and expressions is also considerably weaker in infants with ASD 6 and the differences in emotion processing between typically developing individuals and their peers with ASD are also observable at a neural level 6 . ABSTRACTThis study focused upon the functional capacity of mirror neurons in autistic children. 30 individuals, 10 carriers of the autistic syndrome (GCA), 10 with intellectual impairments (GDI), and 10 non-autistics (GCN) had registered eletroencephalogram from the brain area theoretically related to mirror neurons. Data collection procedure occurred prior to brain stimulation and after the stimulation session. During the second session, participants had to alternately process figures evoking neutral, happy, and/or sorrowful feelings. Results proved that, for all groups, the stimulation process in fact produced additional activation in the neural area under study. The level of activation was related to the format of emotional stimuli and the likelihood of boosting such stimuli. Since the increase of activation occurred in a model similar to the one observed for the control group, we may suggest that the difficulty people with autism have at expressing emotions is not due to nonexistence of mirror neurons.Keywords: autistic disorder; mirror neurons; emotions. RESUMOO estudo verificou a capacidade funcional dos neurônios-espelho em crianças autistas. 30 indivíduos, sendo 10 portadores da síndrome autista (GCA), 10 com deficiência intelectual (GDI), e 10 não-autistas (GCN) tiveram registrado o eletroencefalograma da área do cérebro relacionada teoricamente com os neurônios espelho. O procedimento de coleta de dados ocorreu antes e após uma sessão de estimulação cerebral. Durante a segunda coleta de dados, os participantes tiveram de processar alternadamente figuras evocando sentimentos neutros, felizes e tristes. Os resultados provaram que, para todos os grupos, o processo de estimulação de fato produziu ativação adicional na área neural em estudo. O nível de ativação foi relacionada com o formato dos estímulos emocionais. Uma vez que o aumento da ativação ocorreu em um modelo semelhante ao observado para o grupo controle, pode-se sugerir que as pessoas com autismo têm dificuldade em expressar emoções não devido à inexistência de neurônios-espelho.Palavras-chave: transtorno autístico; neurônios-espelho; emoções.

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confidence: 48%

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confidence: 93%

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Brain stimulation used as biofeedback in neuronal activation of the temporal lobe area in autistic children

Silva

Calomeni

Nunes

et al. 2016

Arq. Neuro-Psiquiatr.

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“…This may suggest that empathy is hard-wired in the brain as action observation automatically triggers empathetic processes. Indeed, it has been shown that people who are more empathic have stronger activations of the putative mirror system for hand actions and also the mirror system for emotions, supporting the notion that the MNS is linked to empathy (Acharya et al , 2012, Zaki et al , 2012.…”

Section: A Role In Empathymentioning

confidence: 69%

Does dysfunction of the mirror neuron system contribute to symptoms in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?

Eisen

Lemon

Kiernan

et al. 2015

Clinical Neurophysiology

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Eisen et al, Mirror Neurons in ALS 2 Declaration of interest:The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper. Eisen et al, Mirror Neurons in ALS 3 Abbreviations:ALS: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; ADM: adductor digiti minimi; APB: abductor pollicic brevis; bvFTD: Behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia; FTD: Frontotemporal dementia; fMRI: functional MRI; MNS: Mirror neuron system; M1: Primary motor cortex; PTNs: Pyramidal tract neurons; vMPFC: Ventral medial prefrontal cortex. Eisen et al, Mirror Neurons in ALS 4 AbstractThere is growing evidence that mirror neurons, initially discovered over two decades ago in the monkey, are present in the human brain. In the monkey, mirror neurons characteristically fire not only when it is performing an action, such as grasping an object, but also when observing a similar action performed by another agent (human or monkey). In this review we discuss the origin, cortical distribution and possible functions of mirror neurons as a background to exploring their potential relevance in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We have recently proposed that ALS (and the related condition of frontotemporal dementia) may be viewed as a failure of interlinked functional complexes having their origins in key evolutionary adaptations. The mirror neuron system is considered by many to be the basis of primates' social cognition, with a clear evolutionary advantage. Impaired empathy and motor control has been related to a defective mirror neuron system. In ALS, the mirror neuron system might be implicated in empathy, the split-hand syndrome, gait, speech, and related languagegesture impairments.Eisen et al, Mirror Neurons in ALS 5

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“…The second abnormality is represented by sensory-motor defects such as temper tantrums, head banging and some stereotyped movements. All these deficiencies and defects are currently considered to be secondary to the abnormal development of mirror neurons (Acharya & Shukla, 2012).…”

Section: Empathy and Autism Spectrum Disordersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mirror neurons: Enigma of the metaphysical modular brain

Cited by 76 publications

References 31 publications

Brain stimulation used as biofeedback in neuronal activation of the temporal lobe area in autistic children

Brain stimulation used as biofeedback in neuronal activation of the temporal lobe area in autistic children

Does dysfunction of the mirror neuron system contribute to symptoms in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?

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