Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Highlight
  • Published:

Mirror neurons

Mirrors, mirrors, everywhere?

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 11, page 374 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

The authors recorded neuronal activity in patients with implanted electrodes while the patients observed or executed grasping hand actions and facial expressions. They recorded from neurons in the medial frontal cortex (supplementary motor area and anterior cingulate cortex) and the medial temporal cortex (entorhinal cortex, hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus and amygdala). In the hippocampus, the parahippocampal gyrus, the entorhinal cortex and the supplementary motor area, a higher percentage of the recorded neurons than expected by chance changed their activity when the participant observed a particular action and when he or she executed that action.

Of the 68 'matching cells' detected, 33 showed increased firing during both the observation and execution of a particular action and 21 cells showed decreased firing in both conditions. Interestingly, in the remaining 14 neurons, the firing rate increased in one condition but decreased in the other.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Mukamel, R. et al. Single-neuron responses in humans during execution and observation of actions. Curr. Biol. 20, 750–756 (2010)

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

FURTHER READING

  1. Rizzolatti, G. & Sinigaglia, C. The functional role of the parieto-frontal mirror circuit: interpretations and misinterpretations. Nature Rev. Neurosci. 11, 264–274 (2010)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Leonie Welberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Welberg, L. Mirrors, mirrors, everywhere?. Nat Rev Neurosci 11, 374 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2858

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2858

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing