Abstract
A category of stimuli of great importance for primates, humans in
particular, is that formed by actions done by other individuals.
If we want to survive, we must understand the actions of others.
Furthermore, without action understanding, social organization is
impossible. In the case of humans, there is another faculty that
depends on the observation of others' actions: imitation learning.
Unlike most species, we are able to learn by imitation, and this
faculty is at the basis of human culture. In this review we present
data on a neurophysiological mechanismthe mirror-neuron mechanismthat
appears to play a fundamental role in both action understanding and
imitation. We describe first the functional properties of mirror
neurons in monkeys. We review next the characteristics of the mirror-neuron
system in humans. We stress, in particular, those properties specific
to the human mirror-neuron system that might explain the human capacity
to learn by imitation. We conclude by discussing the relationship
between the mirror-neuron system and language.
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