Lyons Derek E, Santos Laurie R, Keil Frank C
Yale University, Department of Psychology, PO Box 208205, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8205, USA.
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2006 Apr;16(2):230-4. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2006.03.015. Epub 2006 Mar 27.
Mirror neurons, located in the premotor cortex of macaque monkeys, are activated both by the performance and the passive observation of particular goal-directed actions. Although this property would seem to make them the ideal neural substrate for imitation, the puzzling fact is that monkeys simply do not imitate. Indeed, imitation appears to be a uniquely human ability. We are thus left with a fascinating question: if not imitation, what are mirror neurons for? Recent advances in the study of non-human primate social cognition suggest a surprising potential answer.
镜像神经元位于猕猴的运动前区皮质,在执行特定目标导向动作以及被动观察这些动作时均会被激活。尽管这一特性似乎使它们成为模仿的理想神经基础,但令人费解的是,猴子根本不会模仿。事实上,模仿似乎是人类独有的能力。于是我们面临一个引人入胜的问题:如果不是用于模仿,那么镜像神经元的作用是什么?对非人类灵长类动物社会认知的最新研究进展给出了一个惊人的潜在答案。