摘要
镜像神经元是意大利帕尔玛大学Rizzolatti等人在恒河猴大脑腹侧运动前皮层F5区发现的一种神经元。这种神经元在猴子操作和观察同一个指向某种目标的动作时(如伸手抓食物)皆被激活,似乎这种神经元映射了其它个体的动作,因此被命名为"镜像神经元"。镜像神经元通过具身的模拟把动作的执行和动作的知觉结合在一起,把观察过程与身体运动过程相融合,克服了二元论在身心之间所设置的障碍,为人们正确认识身心关系开辟了新的视角。尽管镜像神经元的发现存在着一些争论,但是许多研究业已证明,镜像神经元仍然是一个具有较强解释力的概念。
It was originally discovered by neuroscientist Rizzolatti and his group in the University of Parma, Italy, in the early 1990s, that a mirror neuron represents a special class of brain cells that can fire both when the macaque executes a goal-directed motor act and when it observes another agent performing the same or a similar goal-directed motor act. They were called mirror neurons just because they seemed to directly reflect another individual＇s act in observer＇s brain. Functional neuroimaging studies demonstrate that there is also a mirror neuron system in the human being. This kind of mirror mechanism allows us to directly understand the meaning of the actions of others by internally simulating them without any conscious efforts. Mirror neurons appear to form a cortical system that may match act execution and act observation, and connect cognition with body＇s sensor-motor systems. Therefore, it seems that mirror neurons bridge the gap between mind and body, and support the view that a body＇s sensory-motor system has the right kind of structure to characterize both mind and behavior. It opens a new vision for reconsidering the mind-body relationship. In the author＇s opinion, the mirror mecha- nism provides us with an original and primary way to understand the actions and experiences of others from the inside, and makes sense of their behaviors on the basis of our own motor possibilities. Mirror neuron systems, therefore, tie closely our internal cognitive proces- ses with peripheral sensory-motor system, making the mind and body become one thing. Conclusions from the above are ： （ 1 ） The mind and body are not two kinds of substance, but one integrated mass. Our body＇s physical and physiological processes and our mental processes, in the essence, are different respects of the same activity of adaptation. They are one activity instead of two. Mirror neurons fire both when the animal manipulates an object and when it sees another animal performs the similar action, just because action execu- tion and action observation are governed by the same neural mechanism, and belong to the same area in cerebral cortex, which shows that the mind and body are one mass. （2） Traditional cognitive psychology draws a sharp line between the body＇s sensory-motor system and cognitive processes. Mental processes, according to this view, deal exclusively with abstract, amodal and arbitrary symbols, whose functioning rules are totally independent from our body. However, the role taken by mirror neuron shows the advanced mental processes such as judgment, categorization, and logical inference are all influenced by our sensor-motor systems, and our cognitive capability have a strong dependence on our body. （3） The fact that mirror neuron fire both in action execution and in action observation shows that brain function may not be localized. In the past, the theory of functional localization claims that mental characteristics are localized at some areas in brain. This kind of theory has a long history in psychology. However, the dual-function of mirror neurons made challenge to it. Mirror neurons become active in both conditions of performance and observation, which means brain functional localization may not be so rigorous. Brain function is integrated, and functional localization is only relative.
出处
《心理科学》
CSSCI
CSCD
北大核心
2013年第5期1230-1236,共7页
Journal of Psychological Science
基金
国家自然科学基金(31271113)的资助
关键词
镜像神经元
二元论
具身模拟
身心关系
心理学
mirror neuron, dualism, embodied simulation, mind-body relationship, psychology
