Brain-computer interface study sheds light on 'mirror neurons'
Scientists have known for years that neural activity in the brain's motor cortex doesn't just happen when people perform actions. Neurons associated with actions—reaching with a hand to grasp an object, for example—also fire when a person watches someone else perform an action. This observational activity, which underlies a concept known as "mirror neurons," may play a role in how humans and…
Scientists have long known that observing actions in others can activate neurons in the brain's motor cortex, a phenomenon known as mirror neurons. A new study sheds light on how this observational motor activity works. Researchers found that the strength of observational neural activity depends on how humanlike the observed hand appears to be.
Actions performed by realistic-looking hands elicited the strongest response, while robotic or abstract representations elicited weaker responses. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that observational neural activity is not driven by specialized mirror neuron cells but rather a graded response from an ensemble of neural networks. The findings could aid in designing brain-controlled assistive devices for people with paralysis.
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