Transcript Mirror Neurons And Intention Detection

Intention Detection
and Mirror Neurons
Xuan Zhao
[email protected]
CONTENT

Terms used in mind perception?

What is Mirror Neuron System (MNS)?

How was MNS discovered and proved to be related with intention
detection?

What are components of Core Social Imitating System?
How it works?
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Terms Used in Mind Perception
Empathy: ‘Feeling inside’ in Latin
 Theory Of Mind (TOM):
Seeing both oneself and others as subjective beings with minds
and mental states. Going beyond the sensory into the mental.
 Mentalizing
 Mind-Reading
 Intentionality: ‘about something else’ in presentation
 Intention
 Intersubjectivity

Three theories to explain TOM
Module theory: a theory of mind module (TOMM)
Separate from but builds on other mental abilities that may be shared with non-human
primates and other mammals. Only humans have a complete TOMM.

Theory theories:
TOM abilities develop as a primitive, implicit theory over the course of development.
Abrupt changes in behavior and understanding of their own minds.

Simulation theory:
Understand other minds by internally simulating their mental states in each situation.
The dual responsiveness of mirror neurons to self- and other- generated action could
be taken as support.
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Mirror Neuron System (MNS)

A collection of cortical neurons that allow humans to
understand the intentions of others from observation of their
actions.
They fire when:
1) A particular action is perceived
2) The observer performs the same action.
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
Discovered in the frontal cortex and parietal cortex of
macaque monkeys.
Discovery of Mirror Neurons
Giacomo Rizzolatti et al.
Premotor cortex and the recognition of
motor actions. Cognitive Brain Research 3
(1996):131-141


(Tammer et al., 2006)
Mirror neurons in F5 (Part of the frontal
motor area)
Discovery of Mirror Neurons
Responded when:
 Experimenter grasped peanuts
placed on a board.
 Monkey grasped the peanuts.
 Monkey grasped peanuts in
darkness
Didn’t respond when:
 Peanuts were alone on
board.
 The experimenter grasped
peanuts with a tool
Giacomo Rizzolatti et al. Premotor cortex and the recognition of motor actions. Cognitive Brain Research 3 (1996):131-141

To rule out
possibilities of
monkey-experimenter
interaction or food
expectancy.
Giacomo Rizzolatti et al. Premotor cortex and the recognition of motor actions. Cognitive Brain Research 3 (1996):131-141
Evidence for Human MNS
Giacomo Rizzolatti et al. Motor and cognitive functions of the ventral premotor
cortex. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 2002, 12:149–154
Brodmann area 44 in the left
hemisphere:
Broca’s area (cortical speech area)

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Mirror neuron capabilities
involving representation of
actions with the hand and arm.

Broca’s area has mixed abilities.
(Rizzolatti et al., 2002)
Action Recognition or Intention Detection?
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Does the MNS respond to the act regardless of context
(action recognition), or does it respond to acts in particular
contexts (intention detection)?
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Studies of human acts carried out in different contexts
show that actions are embedded in contexts.
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Marco Iacoboni, Istvan Molnar-Szakacs, Vittorio Gallese, Giovanni Buccino, John C. Mazziotta, Giacomo
Rizzolatti. Grasping Intentions with Mirror Neurons. PLoS Biol 3(3): e79

Marco Iacoboni, Istvan Molnar-Szakacs, Vittorio Gallese, Giovanni Buccino, John C. Mazziotta, Giacomo
Rizzolatti. Grasping Intentions with Mirror Neurons. PLoS Biol 3(3): e79
Significant fMRI
increase in the
posterior part of
the inferior
frontal gyrus
(Iacoboni et al., 2005)
Automaticity of Intention Detection
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Does the conscious goal to infer intention matter to the activity
of the MNS?
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Explicit group:
Watch video clips with instructions of inferring the intention of the action.
Implicit group:
Simply watch without instructions
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Results:
Increased activity in the anterior cingulate gyrus for Explicit group.
No difference between the groups in activity in the inferior frontal gyrus.
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Mirror Neurons in IPC
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In macaque monkeys (Fogassi et al. ,2005)
Results of microelectrode studies in the
inferior parietal cortex (IPC).
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In humans (Decety et al., 2002)
Left IPC is activated when we imitate actions
that we observed in others;
Right IPC is activated when we observe
others imitating us.
(Cartographers: Fu and Baars)
Core Social Imitation System
1. Superior temporal sulcus (STS)
creates a higher-order visual
representation of the observed action.
2. Fed forward to the frontoparietal
MNS to code the goal of action and
the motor specification for the action.
3. Return to STS to match between
the expected sensory consequences of
the action and the visually observed
actions takes place.
(Iacoboni et al., 2005)
Imitation Learning
Two roles of the mirror
neuron system:
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Imitation Learning
Imitation learning occurs when
we observe others performing
an action and then recreate that
action ourselves.
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Social mirroring
(Iacoboni et al., 2005. Cartographers: Fu and Baars)
Social Mirroring
Wicker et al. (2003a):
Insula and the anterior
cingulate cortex (part of
the limbic system) are
activated in participants who
experience the emotion of
disgust or watch another
person experiencing disgust.
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(Iacoboni et al., 2005. Cartographers: Fu and Baars)
(Iacoboni et al., 2005)
Reference

Bernard J. Baars, Nicole M. Gage. Cognition, Brain, and Consciousness. Elsevier Ltd. 2007.

Giacomo Rizzolatti et al. Premotor cortex and the recognition of motor actions. Cognitive Brain Research 3.
1996:131-141\

R. Tammer, L. Ehrenreich, S. Boretius, T. Watanabe, J. Frahm, T. Michaelis. Compatibility of glass-guided recording
microelectrodes in the brain stem of squirrel monkeys with high-resolution 3D MRI. Journal of Neuroscience
Methods. 2006, 153(2): 221-229

Giacomo Rizzolatti et al. Motor and cognitive functions of the ventral premotor cortex. Current Opinion in
Neurobiology. 2002, 12:149–154

Marco Iacoboni, Istvan Molnar-Szakacs, Vittorio Gallese, Giovanni Buccino, John C. Mazziotta, Giacomo Rizzolatti.
Grasping Intentions with Mirror Neurons. PLoS Biol 3(3): e79

Leonardo Fogassi, Pier Francesco Ferrari, Benno Gesierich, Stefano Rozzi, Fabian Chersi, Giacomo Rizzolatti. Parietal
Lobe: From Action Organization to Intention Understanding. Science. 2005, 308. no. 5722, pp. 662 – 667.

J. Decety, T. Chaminade, J. Grèzes and A. N. Meltzoff. A PET Exploration of the Neural Mechanisms Involved in
Reciprocal Imitation. NeuroImage. 2002,15(1):265-272.
THANK YOU!
Xuan Zhao
[email protected]