The Myth of Mirror Neurons: The Real Neuroscience of Communication and Cognition

by Gregory Hickok

Overview

An essential reconsideration of one of the most far-reaching theories in modern neuroscience and psychology.

In 1992, a group of neuroscientists from Parma, Italy, reported a new class of brain cells discovered in the motor cortex of the macaque monkey. These cells, later dubbed mirror neurons, responded equally well during the monkey’s own motor actions, such as grabbing an object, and while the monkey watched someone else perform similar motor actions. Researchers speculated that the neurons allowed the monkey to understand others by simulating their actions in its own brain.

Mirror neurons soon jumped species and took human neuroscience and psychology by storm. In the late 1990s theorists showed how the cells provided an elegantly simple new way to explain the evolution of language, the development of human empathy, and the neural foundation of autism. In the years that followed, a stream of scientific studies implicated mirror neurons in everything from schizophrenia and drug abuse to sexual orientation and contagious yawning.

In The Myth of Mirror Neurons, neuroscientist Gregory Hickok reexamines the mirror neuron story and finds that it is built on a tenuous foundation—a pair of codependent assumptions about mirror neuron activity and human understanding. Drawing on a broad range of observations from work on animal behavior, modern neuroimaging, neurological disorders, and more, Hickok argues that the foundational assumptions fall flat in light of the facts. He then explores alternative explanations of mirror neuron function while illuminating crucial questions about human cognition and brain function: Why do humans imitate so prodigiously? How different are the left and right hemispheres of the brain? Why do we have two visual systems? Do we need to be able to talk to understand speech? What’s going wrong in autism? Can humans read minds?

The Myth of Mirror Neurons not only delivers an instructive tale about the course of scientific progress—from discovery to theory to revision—but also provides deep insights into the organization and function of the human brain and the nature of communication and cognition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393244168
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	08/11/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	304,118
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Gregory Hickok is a professor of cognitive science at University of California, Irvine, where he directs the Center for Language Science and the Auditory and Language Neuroscience Lab.

Table of Contents

Preface: A Neural Blueprint for Human Behavior? 1

Chapter 1 Serendipity in Parma 9

Chapter 2 Like What DNA Did for Biology 19

Chapter 3 Human See, Human Do? 27

Chapter 4 Anomalies 41

Chapter 5 Talking Brains 77

Chapter 6 The Embodied Brain 111

Chapter 7 Feeling, Doing, Knowing 146

Chapter 8 Homo Imitans and the Function of Mirror 184

Chapter 9 Broken Mirrors 207

Chapter 10 Predicting the Future of Mirror Neurons 226

Appendix A A Primer on Brain Organization 243

Appendix B Cognitive Neuroscience Toolbox 249

Acknowledgments 255

Notes 257

Index 279

Editorial Reviews

05/05/2014
Hickok, professor of cognitive science at the University of California, Irvine, frames his book around a straightforward question: “How is it possible that a cell in the motor cortex of a monkey can provide the neural blueprint for human language, empathy, autism, and more?” His answer, presented with great clarity and detail, is equally straightforward: it can’t. Hickok balances his exploration of the hype surrounding the importance of mirror neurons with a careful analysis of the scientific literature, always attempting to ensure that conclusions are well supported by available data. In fact, he firmly believes that conclusions have far outpaced data. When he takes on the assertion that problems with mirror neurons are the cause of autism, he does not sugarcoat his finding that “the broken mirror hypothesis does not fare well in light of empirical facts.” He is equally confident that mirror neurons have not provided clues to the evolution of language, empathy, or theory of mind. Hickok’s skepticism toward the claims associated with mirror neurons began when he taught a course on the subject, and thanks to those origins his impressive handling of basic neuroscience makes a complex topic understandable to the general reader as he delves into cutting-edge science. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"This book is the scientific analog of a courtroom thriller: against long odds, the brilliant underdog logically, methodically, and with disarming grace and hard facts takes down his fashionable opponent—the ‘Mirror Neuron’ colossus, long the darling of the don’t-look-too-closely crew. Hickok does not leave us empty-handed, however, but outlines what an alternative to mirror theory might look like."

Patricia Churchland

"A devastating critique of one of the most oversold ideas in psychology."

Gary Marcus

"Every now and again an idea from science escapes from the lab and takes on a life of its own as an explanation for all mysteries, a validation of our deepest yearnings, and irresistible bait for journalists and humanities scholars. Examples include relativity, uncertainty, incompleteness, punctuated equilibrium, plasticity, complexity, epigenetics, and, for much of the twenty-first century, mirror neurons. In this lively, accessible, and eminently sensible analysis, the distinguished cognitive neuroscientist Greg Hickok puts an end to this monkey business by showing that mirror neurons do not, in fact, explain language, empathy, society, and world peace. But this is not a negative exposé—the reader of this book will learn a great deal of the contemporary sciences of language, mind, and brain, and will find that the reality is more exciting than the mythology."

Steven Pinker

2014-06-17
The discovery of a class of brain cells called mirror neurons was embraced by an entire generation of scientists as the key to the neurological understanding of human social behaviors. But what if the fundamental assumption about these cells’ activity was wrong from the start?The behavioral characteristic of mirror neurons that generated such excitement is this: Neurons fire when a subject reaches for an objectas well as when a subject observes someone else reach for an object. This simple but profound feature, which suggests a relationship between knowledge of self-actions and an understanding of the intentions of others, generated multidisciplinary theories about all kinds of human behavior and thought, from language to empathy. Hickok (Cognitive Science/Univ. of California, Irvine) understood the hype—if these claims held up, the mirror neuron theory of “action understanding” could revolutionize our comprehension of some of the brain’s most compelling mysteries. However, the author was also wary, in part because the data that started the firestorm was the result of experiments on monkeys, not humans—a big leap to the nuanced human behaviors mirror neurons were purported to explain. When he dug deeper into the research, Hickok was not convinced that the hard evidence was there. He became a vocal critic of the cult of mirror neurons and began conducting his own research. The results are fascinating: New findings in behavioral science and neuroscience suggest mirror neurons have a vital role to play within a broader class of sensorimotor cells, which may lead to a newunderstanding of the brain within a computational theory of the mind. It's an inspiring example of experimental science at work: The initial theory of mirror neurons may have had a false start, but it inspiredan even more complex and interesting story that is just beginning to unfold.A bold look at one of the most exciting theories in neuroscience.

Kirkus Reviews