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Mirroring Behavior
How mirror neurons let us interact with others
By Daniel Lametti on June 9, 2009

Eighteenyearsago,inalaboratoryattheUniversityofParmainItaly,a
neuroscientistnamedGiacomoRizzolattiandhisgraduatestudentswererecording
electricalactivityfromneuronsinthebrainofamacaquemonkey.Itwasatypical
studyinneurophysiology:needlethinelectrodesranintothemonkeysheadthrough
asmallwindowcutoutofitsskullthetipsoftheelectrodeswereplacedwithin
individualneuronsinabrainregioncalledthepremotorcortex.Atthetime,the
premotorcortexwasknowntobeinvolvedintheplanningandinitiationof
movements,and,justasRizzolattiexpected,whenthemonkeymoveditsarmtograb
anobjecttheelectrodessignaledthatpremotorneuronswerefiring.Andthen,
neglectingtoturnofftheirequipment,Rizzolattiandhisteamgotlunch.

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Whatfollowedlunchthatdaywasaserendipitousdiscovery.OneofRizzolattis
graduatestudentsdecidedtohaveanicecreamconefordessert,whichheateinfull
viewofthewiredupmonkey.Tohissurprise,theelectrodessuddenlybegantosignal
aspikeincellularactivityinthepremotorcortex,eventhoughthemonkeywas
motionless.

Aftershovelingmorefoodintotheirmouths,thescientistsdeterminedthatsomeof
theneuronstheywererecordingfromfiredwhenthemonkeymadecertain
movementslikebringingapieceoffoodtoitsmouthandwhenthemonkey
watchedsomeonemakesimilarmovements.Inotherwords,theneuronswere
mirroringobservedactions:whenthemonkeywatchedsomeoneperformanaction
itsbrainseemedtobesimulatingneuralactivityasifthemonkeywasperformingthe
actionitself.Thesemirrorneurons,asRizzolattilaterdubbedthem,were
hypothesizedtoconstituteabrainsystemresponsibleforourabilitytounderstand
theactionsofothers.Weknowaboutourworldbecauseweveinteractedwithitand
onlybysimulatingthisinteractioninourheadscanwecomprehendthebehaviourof
someoneelse.
In1992,almostayearaftertheicecreamconeincident,Rizzolattipublishedashort
reportinaminorneurosciencejournaldescribinghisdiscoveryofmirrorneurons.
Thepaperwaslargelyignored.Then,almostfouryearslater,hepublishedamore
detailedaccountofthefindinginthejournalBrainthatlaunchedatorrentof
researchmorethan300papersinthepasttenyearsintomirrorneuronsand
theirproperties.AsheexplainedtoTheNewYorkTimesinaninterview,"Ittookus
severalyearstobelievewhatwewereseeing.
SinceRizzolattis1996paper,studiesinprimatesandhumanssupporttheideathat
mirrorneuronshelpusunderstandobservedbehaviour.Oneprimatestudyfound
thatmirrorneuronswereactivatedsimplybythesoundofanaction,liketheripping
ofpaper,whileanotherfoundthatthementalrepresentationofactionswasenough
tocausemirrorneuronfiring.Theseareimportantresultsbecausetheydemonstrate
amirrorneuronresponsetothemeaningofanactionandnotjusttheobservationof
one.
Inhumans,brainimagingstudiesofpeoplewithautismadeficitcharacterizedby
aninabilitytocomprehendobservedbehaviorhaveshownthatautisticshaveless

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activityinpremotorregionsduringtheobservationofactionsthannormalsubjects.
Andmorerecently,inadramaticexampleoftheimportanceofmirrorneuronsinour
understandingofothers,apraxiapatientswithcorticaldamageinmirrorneuron
areaswereshowntohavedifficultyrecognizingwhetherhandgestures,likesticking
outathumbtohitcharide,wereperformedcorrectly.
AnewpaperbyVittorioCaggianoandcolleaguesattheUniversityofTubingenin
GermanyRizzolattiisacoauthorsuggeststhatmirrorneuronsmightalsoplaya
roleinhelpinguschooseappropriateresponsestobehaviorsweobserve.Using
similarmethodstotheoriginalmirrorneuronstudiesinmacaques,thelatestpaper
foundthatsomemirrorneuronsfiredwhenamonkeywatchedtheexperimenter
graspanobjectwithinitsreach,whileothermirrorneuronsfiredwhenthemonkey
watchedtheexperimentergraspanobjectthatwasoutofitsreach.Thesemirror
neurons,itseemed,respondeddifferentlytoobservedbehaviordependingonhowfar
thebehavioroccurredfromthemonkey.
Theauthorsofthepaperthenrepeatedtheexperimentbutwithanimportanttwist:
theyplacedaneckhighwallinfrontofthemonkey,forcingtheanimaltomakean
intermediatemovementareachoverthewallinthiscasetograspanyobject.In
thissituation,themirrorneuronsthatrespondedbeforeonlytotheobservationofan
actionwithinthemonkeysreachcompletelystoppedfiring.Andthemirrorneurons
thatrespondedonlytotheobservationofanactionoutsideofthemonkeysreach
nowfiredvigorously,nomatterwheretheexperimentergraspedtheobject.The
mirrorneuronswerenotsimplyencodingthedistanceofanobservedact,theywere
encodingwhetherthemonkeycouldperformtheactwithoutanintermediate
behavior.
Onecanonlyspeculate,ofcourse,astothebehavioralconsequencesofmirror
neuronsthatdifferentiatebetweenactionsthatcanbeimmediatelyperformedand
actionsthatrequireintermediatebehaviors.Butanintriguingideaproposedbythe
papersauthorsisthatsuchasystemmighthelpuschoosebehaviorsofourown.If
mirrorneuronshelpusunderstandtheactofabasketballplayermakingajumpshot
bysimulatingneuralactivityasifweweremakingthejumpshot,perhaps,ifwedont
haveabasketballwithinreach,theyrunsimulationsofbehaviorsthatmightallowus
togettheballcallingforapassorgrabbingarebound.Suchneuralsimulations
mighthelpusdecidehowbesttoquicklyrespondtochangingevents.

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Determiningwhethersuchmirrorneuronsexistinhumanswillrequiremore
research,usingindirectmethodssuchasfunctionalbrainimaging.Evenso,this
findingsuggestshowmirrorneuronsmightlinktheunderstandingofthebehaviorof
otherpeoplewiththeproductionofourownbehavior,whichisacrucialsteptowards
determiningtheneuralprocessesthatcausedRizzolattisgraduatestudenttoeatan
icecreamconeonthatfatefuldayinItaly,eighteenyearsago.

Areyouascientist?Haveyourecentlyreadapeerreviewedpaperthatyouwantto
writeabout?ThencontactMindMatterseditorJonahLehrer,thesciencewriter
behindtheblogTheFrontalCortexandthebookProustWasaNeuroscientist.His
latestbookisHowWeDecide.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

DanielLamettiisaPhDstudentinbehavioralneuroscienceatMcGillUniversity.He
blogsatdaniellametti.com

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2 016 S CI E N TI F I CA ME RI CA N , A DI V I S I ON OF N A TU RE A ME RI CA , I N C.

A LLRI GHTS RE S E RV E D.

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