Mirror neuron and its dysruption
There are studies indicating that MNS is closely related to
imitation (Rozzi,
Buccino, Ferrari, 2013). Among primates, there are species which are
good at imitation (e.g., orangutans) and not so good (e.g., monkeys)(Arbib,
Bonaiuto, 2009). Human beings are extremely good at imitating others and that
is considered to be related to our highly elaborated and sophisticated social
and communication skills (Ramachandran, 2011).
Ramachandran,
VS. (2011) The tell-tale brain. Norton & Company.
Rozzi,
S., Buccino, G and Ferrari, PF. (2013) Mirror neuron and imitation. In Routledge
Handbook of Motor Control and Motor Learning By Albert Gollhofer, Wolfgang
Taube, Jens Bo Nielsen. Chapter 9 pp.175-194.
Arbib,
M, Bonaiuto, J (2009) From grasping to complex imitation: Mirror systems on the
path to language. Mind & Society 7:43-64.
Let us examine more closely how mirror neurons are involved in our
act of imitation. When a person A smiles at another person B, naturally B has the
same experience in its passive voice; he has the experience of being smiled at.
However, at the same time, B is also observing A’ s actively smiling and with
the help of MNS, B is also experiencing A’s smiling vicariously. Thus, if B
observes A doing something toward B, his experience is always twofold, and what
is important is that B is with his readiness for the imitation of A’s behavior.
When B actually imitates A’s behavior by smiling back at A, it is no longer a
simple imitation, but starts A and B’s bidirectional interaction. That
interaction may continue, by A’s smiling back at B, and B’s response to it, and
so on. In order to show that this imitative exchange is based on MNS and
involves multimodal experiences and reward system, let us make this interaction
more concretely.
Suppose that this interaction is between mother and her baby. The
baby is on the receiving end of mother’s smiling, while at the same time, with
the help of MNS, he vicariously experiences mother’s actively smiling at him. Most
likely, the baby feels good, as mother’s smile might come with her tender tone
of voice, gentle sensation of her stroking hand, warmth of her body and good
smell, which are all experienced by the baby in a multi-modal way. He then
smiles back at his mother, and their mutual smiling begins to form their emotional
exchange. As I suggested, this interchange is strongly mobilized by the
involvement of their reward system: they repeat them as they feel basically
very good. When the baby smiles back at her, most of the additional sensation,
such as tender voice and warmth of his hand, might be experienced by the mother
on the receiving side. The child experiences vicariously through MNS the
mother’s experiences of them. Thus the baby experiences this bi-directional
exchange with his mother (or any significant caretaker) with its all recipes
necessary for the child to gain sense of self, sense of agency, self-other differentiation
with the help of mirror system; his passive experience is backed by all sorts
of additional sensation. He has the sense of agency by vicariously experiencing
mother’s reception of the sensation in the same kind. He feels that he and his
mother are different subjects as his observation of an action and his actually
doing are sensed differently, with the help of MNS and mu-neuron.(when he is
actually doing, there is an activation of μsystem which tell the subject that he is not doing but observing it.
