Young Mirror Neurons
UPPSALA, Sweden, Jun 19, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Swedish scientists say children as young as 1 year can learn to predict the outcome of another person's actions as well as adults can. The study by Uppsala University researchers suggests infants learn to predict the actions of others about when they learn to perform such actions themselves.
In this study, infants and adults watched a video of a hand placing toys in a bucket. The researchers tracked eye movements. Adults and 12-month old babies learned to look at the bucket before the hand reached it, showing that they were predicting the outcome of the movement.
This kind of learning is the basis for imitative learning and is probably supported by the mirror neuron system. The fact that it develops so early may suggest the important role it plays in cognitive development. This kind of learning is later dismissed by verbal systems as “mere intuition.”
People who so casually dismiss the products of the mirror neuron system may be ignoring one of the most powerful brain systems they were born with. People who pay attention to the products of that system may gain an advantage over those who do not. An unfair advantage, I suppose, from the viewpoint of verbal systems. But my intuitive feeling is that people get the service they look for out of their brains. And don’t get the service they don’t look for.
In this study, infants and adults watched a video of a hand placing toys in a bucket. The researchers tracked eye movements. Adults and 12-month old babies learned to look at the bucket before the hand reached it, showing that they were predicting the outcome of the movement.
This kind of learning is the basis for imitative learning and is probably supported by the mirror neuron system. The fact that it develops so early may suggest the important role it plays in cognitive development. This kind of learning is later dismissed by verbal systems as “mere intuition.”
People who so casually dismiss the products of the mirror neuron system may be ignoring one of the most powerful brain systems they were born with. People who pay attention to the products of that system may gain an advantage over those who do not. An unfair advantage, I suppose, from the viewpoint of verbal systems. But my intuitive feeling is that people get the service they look for out of their brains. And don’t get the service they don’t look for.
posted by Selby Evans at 2:49 PM
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