Mirror neurons and the simulation theory of mind-reading

A new class of visuomotor neuron has been recently discovered in the monkey's premotor cortex: mirror neurons. These neurons respond both when a particular action is performed by the recorded monkey and when the same action, performed by another individual, is observed. Mirror neurons appear to form a cortical system matching observation and execution of goal-related motor actions. Experimental evidence suggests that a similar matching system also exists in humans. What might be the functional role of this matching system? One possible function is to enable an organism to detect certain mental states of observed conspecifics. This function might be part of, or a precursor to, a more general mind-reading ability. Two different accounts of mind-reading have been suggested. According to ‘theory theory', mental states are represented as inferred posits of a naive theory. According to ‘simulation theory', other people's mental states are represented by adopting their perspective: by tracking or matching their states with resonant states of one's own. The activity of mirror neurons, and the fact that observers undergo motor facilitation in the same muscular groups as those utilized by target agents, are findings that accord well with simulation theory but would not be predicted by theory theory.     

Transfer in discrimination learning: Do children mediate more than adults?

A series of four-dimensional, discrimination-learning problems were presented to second-, sixth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students (ages 7, 11, 13, and 17 years, respectively). One pretraining problem, using different dimensions, preceded the four experimental problems; these employed identical dimensions and stimulus values. Solutions were selected without dimensional replacement.Blank-trial probes enabled detection of initial predictions. Results clearly indicated that (1) older subjects made dramatically fewer intradimensional predictions (utilizing the solution dimension from the preceding problem) than did younger subjects, (2) all age groups demonstrated systematic changes over problems; these reflected the specific solution sequence experienced, and (3) there were consistent developmental differences in the speed with which subjects noted and utilized regularities across problems.The pattern of data is not congruent with the expectations of mediation theory. However, it is in accord with the transfer hypothesis, which is a recent extension of hypothesis theory. The transfer hypothesis provides a theoretical framework which suggests when we should observe “mediational” behavior (i.e., intradimensional transfer) and when to expect the inverse.     

Thinking About Me: How Social Awareness Evolved

ABSTRACT— Humans seem unique in their consideration of others' goals, motivations, intentions, and needs. But the human form of social awareness did not spring from nowhere; certain mechanisms shared across primates formed the foundation from which these processes derived. A review of recent nonhuman primate research points to particular ancestral mechanisms, including an interest in images moving in synchrony with self, a mirror neuron system that responds in the same way to actions made by the self and by others, and inherited social tolerance that provided the bases for social thinking. Still there is a gap in tracking social awareness from these basic beginnings to the ability to think about self and other with respect to intentions and goals. Comparative and clinical work will fill in this gap and will map brain processes onto social thinking.     

治疗糖尿病创新药物研究

本论文从治疗2型糖尿病药物应用现状出发,通过对2型糖尿病病理的认识,新发现的主要受体和相关药靶等方面进行分析。指出随着对糖尿病认识的深入发展,治疗糖尿病创新药物研究的发展趋势也发生了相应的变化,就是从局部治疗到全身综合考虑,从药物外部直接地干预到增强自身调节功能。为治疗2-型糖尿病药物发展指明了方向。     

EEG mu rhythm and imitation impairments in individuals with autism spectrum disorder

Imitation ability has consistently been shown to be impaired in individuals with autism. A dysfunctional execution/observation matching system has been proposed to account for this impairment. The EEG mu rhythm is believed to reflect an underlying execution/observation matching system. This study investigated evidence of differential mu rhythm attenuation during the observation, execution, and imitation of movements and examined its relation to behaviorally assessed imitation abilities. Fourteen high-functioning adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 15 IQ- and age-matched typical adults participated. On the behavioral imitation task, adults with ASD demonstrated significantly poorer performance compared to typical adults in all domains of imitation ability. On the EEG task, both groups demonstrated significant attenuation of the mu rhythm when executing an action. However, when observing movement, the individuals with ASD showed significantly reduced attenuation of the mu wave. Behaviorally assessed imitation skills were correlated with degree of mu wave attenuation during observation of movement. These findings suggest that there is execution/observation matching system dysfunction in individuals with autism and that this matching system is related to degree of impairment in imitation abilities.     

Predictive coding: an account of the mirror neuron system

Is it possible to understand the intentions of other people by simply observing their actions? Many believe that this ability is made possible by the brain’s mirror neuron system through its direct link between action and observation. However, precisely how intentions can be inferred through action observation has provoked much debate. Here we suggest that the function of the mirror system can be understood within a predictive coding framework that appeals to the statistical approach known as empirical Bayes. Within this scheme the most likely cause of an observed action can be inferred by minimizing the prediction error at all levels of the cortical hierarchy that are engaged during action observation. This account identifies a precise role for the mirror system in our ability to infer intentions from actions and provides the outline of the underlying computational mechanisms.     

示能性:基于镜像神经元视角的理解

示能性(affordance)概念解释了人的行为与物体功能之间互动、互补的关系。但是,有关示能性生理基础却很少被提及。镜像神经元的发现为示能性生理基础提供了可能的解释。文章根据研究将示能性分为结构示能性和功能示能性,探讨了不同示能性和镜像神经元之间的关系,并提出不同神经通路中的镜像神经元是示能性生理基础的结论。背-背侧分流中的镜像神经元是结构示能性的神经基础,而腹-背侧分流中的镜像神经元是功能示能性的神经基础。     

Towards the feeling of emergence

Emergence is a multi-dimensional notion; the meanings it has acquired span the mythopoetic to the scientific, especially as found in complex systems. Examples of emergence in Navaho and Egyptian imagery underscore its diverse cultural origins and applications as well as suggesting an underlying archetypal quality to the core concept. A brief overview of the use of this term in science starting in the 17th century helps to locate the roots of modern emergent views in the philosophy of Leibniz. Jung's own use of early systems approaches was a part of his formulations of a 'third' position associated with the transcendent function. As this paper was delivered at the 50th anniversary conference of the Journal of Analytical Psychology, aspects of the emergence of the Journal within the contents of the first issue are explored. Attention is drawn to several articles, especially a case of brief child therapy done by Robert Moody. His approach to working his case is strikingly modern and vividly demonstrates principles of emergence within the clinical setting. Following this there is a discussion of some neuroscientific research on neural body maps, pointing to the experience of feelings as an emergent process. It is suggested that feelings derive from phase transitions in the brain's body mapping states. A reconsideration of a seeming impasse in the case described by Moody leads instead to a view of the initial phase of treatment as a pre-critical period. Research findings on mirror neurons are presented in terms of the feeling of empathy. Subjective feelings are then shown to be associated with moments of emergence, especially surprise and curiosity, exemplified by a case from the author's practice.     

Women's social experiences before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A 3-part measurement burst study among women in midlife with health risks

Women in midlife (ages 40–60) with elevated risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) often rely on social networks during times of high stress. Precautions against the spread of COVID-19—particularly stay-at-home-orders—could have limited positive social experiences during a stressful time, but also could have reduced unwanted negative social experiences. This report presents findings from an ecological momentary assessment study that used 3 bursts of 5 surveys per day for 5 days, to test for changes in women's social experiences: prior to COVID-19 (2019), during stay-at-home-orders (April-May 2020), and during initial reopening (August-September 2020). Participants were women aged 40–60 with one or more CVD risk factors (e.g., hypertension; N = 35, M_Age = 51, M_BMI = 32.2 kg/m²). Momentary reports showed that the number of positive interactions experienced in daily life did not significantly change from before to during the pandemic; positive interactions were more variable during stay-at-home orders than pre-COVID, but rebounded by initial reopening (to pre-COVID levels). In contrast, the number of negative social interactions and social comparisons decreased from before COVID to stay-at-home orders, and remained lower during initial reopening; these experiences were also less variable during stay-at-home orders and initial reopening than before COVID-19. Thus, in a vulnerable group of women with health risks, there is little evidence that social experiences worsened during the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic; decreases in (potentially) negative social experiences may be a small but beneficial side effect of short-term public health precautions.     

Basic and applied research on extinction bursts

Discontinuation of the contingency between a response and its reinforcer sometimes produces a temporary increase in the response before its rate decreases, a phenomenon called the extinction burst. Prior clinical and basic studies on the prevalence of the extinction burst provide highly disparate estimates. Existing theories on the extinction burst fail to account for the dynamic nature of this phenomenon, and the basic behavioral processes that control response bursting remain poorly understood. In this paper, we first review the basic and applied literature on the extinction burst. We then describe a recent refinement of the concatenated matching law called the temporally weighted matching law that appears to resolve the above-mentioned issues regarding the extinction burst. We present illustrative translational data based conceptually on the model. Finally, we discuss specific recommendations derived from the temporally weighted matching law regarding procedures clinicians could implement to potentially mitigate or prevent extinction bursts.