Mirror neurons and the neural exploitation hypothesis

from embodied simulation to social cognition

Vittorio Gallese

pp. 163-190

in: Jaime A. Pineda (ed), Mirror neuron systems, New York City, Humana Press, 2009

Abstract

The relevance of the discovery of mirror neurons in monkeys and of the mirror neuron system in humans to a neuroscientific account of primates' social cognition and its evolution is discussed. It is proposed that mirror neurons and the functional mechanism they underpin, embodied simulation, can ground within a unitary neurophysiological explanatory framework important aspects of human social cognition. A neurophysiological hypothesis – the "neural exploitation hypothesis' – is introduced to explain how key aspects of human social cognition are underpinned by brain mechanisms originally evolved for sensory-motor integration. It is proposed that these mechanisms were later on exapted as new neurofunctional architecture for thought and language, while retaining their original functions as well. By neural exploitation, social cognition and language can be linked to the experiential domain of action.