Article,
Connecting mirror neurons and forward models
NEUROREPORT, (2003)
Abstract
Two recentdevelopments inmotor neuroscience arepromising the
extension of theoretical concepts from motor control towards
cognitive processes, includinghuman social interactions and understanding
the intentions of others.The ¢rst of these is the discovery
of what are now called mirror neurons, which code for both observed
and executed actions.The second is the concept of internal
models, and in particular recent proposals that forward and
inversemodels operate in pairedmodules.These two ideas will be
brie£y introduced, and a recent suggestion linking between the
two processes ofmirroring andmodelling will be describedwhich
may underlie our abilities for imitating actions, for cooperation
between
two actors, and possibly for communication via gesture and
language.
