Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-fx4k7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-20T15:49:35.622Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The role of mirror neurons in language acquisition and evolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2014

Christina Behme
Christina Behme*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada. Christina.Behme@dal.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

I argue that Cook et al.'s attack of the genetic hypothesis of mirror neurons misses its target because the authors miss the point that genetics may specify how neurons may learn, not what they learn. Paying more attention to recent work linking mirror neurons to language acquisition and evolution would strengthen Cook et al.'s arguments against a rigid genetic hypothesis.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , April 2014 , pp. 192 - 193
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Arbib, M. A. (2005) From monkey-like action recognition to human language: An evolutionary framework for neurolinguistics. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 28(2):105–24; discussion 125–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arbib, M. (2010) Mirror system activity for action and language is embedded in the integration of dorsal and ventral pathways. Brain and Language 112:12–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arbib, M. (2011) From mirror neurons to complex imitation in the evolution of language and tool use. Annual Review of Anthropology 40:257–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arbib, M., Liebal, K. & Pika, S. (2008) Primate vocalization, gesture, and the evolution of human language. Current Anthropology 49:1053–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Behme, C. (2014) A “Galilean” science of language. Journal of Linguistics 51:3.Google Scholar
Bickerton, D. (2007) Language evolution: A brief guide for linguists. Lingua 117:510–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonaiuto, J. & Arbib, M. (2010) Extending the mirror neuron system model, II: What did I just do? A new role for mirror neurons. Biological Cybernetics 102(4):341–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bonaiuto, J., Rosta, E. & Arbib, M. (2007) Extending the mirror neuron system model, I: Audible actions and invisible grasps. Biological Cybernetics 96(1):9–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chomsky, N. (1981) Knowledge of language: Its elements and origins. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences 295(1077):223–34.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1995) The minimalist program. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. (2012) The science of language; Interviews with James McGilvray. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corballis, M. (2010) Mirror neurons and the evolution of language. Brain and Language 112:25–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corina, D. P. & Knapp, H. (2008) Signed language and human action processing: Evidence for functional constraints on the human mirror-neuron system. Annals New York Academy of Science 1145:100–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elman, J. L., Bates, E. A., Johnson, M. H., Karmiloff-Smith, A., Parisi, D. & Plunkett, K. (1996) Rethinking innateness: A connectionist perspective on development. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Gentilucci, M. & Corballis, M. (2006) From manual gesture to speech: A gradual transition. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 30:949–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keysers, C. & Perrett, D. I. (2004) Demystifying social cognition: A Hebbian perspective. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8(11):501–507.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Legate, J. & Yang, C. (2002) Empirical reassessment of the poverty stimulus argument. Linguistic Review 19:151–62.Google Scholar
Lightfoot, D. (1999) The development of language: Acquisition, change and evolution. Blackwell.Google Scholar
MacWhinney, B. (2004) A multiple process solution to the logical problem of language acquisition. Journal of Child Language 31:883–914.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGilvray, J. (2006) On the innateness of language. In: Contemporary debates in cognitive science, ed. Stainton, R., pp. 97–112. Blackwell.Google Scholar
Oztop, E. & Arbib, M. (2002) Schema design and implementation of the grasp-related mirror neuron system. Biological Cybernetics 87(2):116–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oztop, E., Kawatob, M. & Arbib, M. (2013) Mirror neurons: Functions, mechanisms and models. Neuroscience Letters 540:43–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pietroski, P. & Crain, S. (2005) Innate ideas. In: The Cambridge companion to Chomsky, ed. McGilvray, J., pp. 164–80. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pinker, S. (1994) The language instinct. Harper Collins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramachandran, V. S. (2000) Mirror neurons and imitation learning as the driving force behind “the great leap forward” in human evolution. Edge 69. [Available Online at: http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/ramachandran/ramachandran_index.html]Google Scholar
Sampson, G. (2002) Exploring the richness of the stimulus. The Linguistic Review 19:73–104.Google Scholar
Tomasello, M. (2003) Constructing a language: A usage-based theory of language acquisition. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar