G. Rizzolatti
1998
Trends in Neurosciences 21(5):188-194, 1998
In monkeys, the rostral part of ventral premotor cortex (area F5) contains neurons that discharge, both when the monkey grasps or manipulates objects and when it observes the experimenter making similar actions. These neurons (mirror neurons) appear to represent a system that ...MORE ⇓
In monkeys, the rostral part of ventral premotor cortex (area F5) contains neurons that discharge, both when the monkey grasps or manipulates objects and when it observes the experimenter making similar actions. These neurons (mirror neurons) appear to represent a system that matches observed events to similar, internally generated actions, and in this way forms a link between the observer and the actor. Transcranial magnetic stimulation and positron emission tomography (PET) experiments suggest that a mirror system for gesture recognition also exists in humans and includes Broca's area. We propose here that such an observation/execution matching system provides a necessary bridge from `doing' to `communicating', as the link between actor and observer becomes a link between the sender and the receiver of each message.
1997
Neural expectations: a possible evolutionary path from manual skills to language
Communication and Cognition 29:393-424, 1997
Abstract 1. Discusses the idea of linking the evolution of language to manual gesture. The authors argue that there is a mechanism in the grasp system that is able to recognize actions. They assert the crucial role of an observation/execution matching system for ...