Evolution of mirror systems: a simple mechanism for complex cognitive functions - PubMed
Review
Evolution of mirror systems: a simple mechanism for complex cognitive functions
Luca Bonini et al. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2011 Apr.
Abstract
Mirror neurons (MNs) were first discovered in monkeys and subsequently in humans and birds. While MNs are deemed to play a number of high-level cognitive functions, here we propose that they serve a unitary form of sensorimotor recognition of others' behavior. We caution that this basic function should not be confounded with the higher order functions that stem from the wider cortical systems in which MNs are embedded. Depending on the species, MNs function at different levels of motor event recognition, from motor goals to fine grained movements, thus contributing to social learning and imitative phenomena. Recent studies show that MNs coding has a prospective nature, suggesting that MNs also play a role in anticipating and predicting the behavior of others during social interactions. The presence of mirroring mechanisms in subcortical structures related to visceromotor reactions and the large diffusion of imitative phenomena among animals suggest that MN systems may be more ancient and widespread than previously thought.
© 2011 New York Academy of Sciences.
Figures

Schematic view of brain regions, coding properties, and functional roles of MNs in the brain of humans, monkeys, and birds. Cortical regions in red identify the crucial nodes of the MN system in the human and monkey cerebral cortex and in the HVC nucleus of the bird brain. The regions in yellow constitute the parietal node of the MN system in the human and monkey brains. Blue cortical regions represent a possible extension of the mirror system through an “indirect” prefrontal pathway. VLPF, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex; IFG, inferior frontal gyrus; PMv, ventral premotor cortex; SMA, supplementary motor area; IPL, inferior parietal lobule; Cs, central sulcus; Ls, lateral sulcus; IPs, intraparietal sulcus; rIPL, rostral inferior parietal lobule; RA, robust nucleus of the arcopallium. F5 and HVC are letter-based names.

Phylogenetic tree of mirroring mechanisms. Red groups include species where direct evidence of single MNs is available. Orange groups include cases of indirect convergent evidence at both the anatomical and the behavioral level (no recording of single neuron activity). Blue groups indicate species where the presence of MNs might be hypothesized on the basis of behavioral evidence, but is not yet supported by neuroscientific data.
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