文献类型：期刊文献

英文题名："motor resonance"? A critical reassessment

作者：Zhao, Zhu[1]; Chen, Wei[2]; Wang, Yin[3]; Li, Yansong[4]

机构：[1] Department of Psychology, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, 650500, China; [2] Department of Psychology, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing, 312000, China; [3] Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, 19122, United States; [4] Department of Psychology, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China

年份：2017

卷号：62

期号：26

起止页码：3023

外文期刊名：Kexue Tongbao/Chinese Science Bulletin

收录：EI(收录号：20174604398948)、Scopus(收录号：2-s2.0-85076382828)

语种：英文

外文关键词：Behavioral research - Brain - Clinical research - Electroencephalography - Electrophysiology - Functional electric stimulation - Mapping - Mirrors - Neuroimaging - Neurons - Philosophical aspects

外文摘要：The serendipitous discovery of mirror neurons in cognitive neuroscience has recently revived interest in the old philosophical "problem of other minds". The remarkable thing about the mirror neurons is that they fire not only when an individual is performing an action, but also when that individual passively observes a similar action performed by another individual. It is widely assumed that mirror neurons provide a "motor resonance" mechanism by which we can understand the actions of others by directly mapping the actions of other people onto our own motor system. This mechanism seems to bridge the gap between the self and the other, thus providing a direct access to other minds. Here we systematically review the motor resonance theory, discuss its current problems and challenges, and provide suggestions for future research. We firstly introduce the framework of the theory with its definitions, scopes and methods. In particular, we clarify several ambiguous notions in the literature such as "intra- vs. inter-personal resonance" and "movement vs. action". Then we outline empirical evidence in support of the theory from two bodies of research: Non-invasive neuro-stimulation (e.g. transcranial magnetic stimulation) and clinical studies with action understanding deficits (e.g. apraxia, Broca's aphasia and autism). These studies suggest the motor resonance is the necessary and sufficient condition for direct access to other minds. Next, we summarize major criticisms of motor resonance theory in recent years. Ever since mirror neurons were discovered, there has been a great debate on its functions and ontogeny. Recent studies question its "direct-mapping" property by showing that sensory representation of an observed action can be arbitrarily mapped to the motor representation of a different action after sensorimotor training. This suggests the motor resonance may merely be a byproduct of associative learning, rather than an evolutionary selected mechanism for action understanding. In contrast, the Genetic hypothesis suggests motor resonance provides a unique direct-mapping mechanism for direct access to other minds, thus functions as an adaptation for action understanding. This claim has been supported by neonate imitation research as well as evidence showing early stage activity ( ? 2017, Science Press. All right reserved.