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15 - The Social Function of the Human Mirror System

A Motor Chauvinist View

from Part IV - Understanding Others

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2016

By
Antonia Hamilton
Edited by
Sukhvinder S. Obhi  and
Emily S. Cross
Sukhvinder S. Obhi
Affiliation:
McMaster University, Ontario
Emily S. Cross
Affiliation:
Bangor University
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Summary

Many different claims have been made concerning the function and role of the human mirror system. This chapter first examines the question of what makes the mirror system special, and whether this particular network can be clearly distinguished from visuomotor systems in the brain. Current studies suggest it is surprisingly hard to draw clear distinctions between mirroring and visuomotor systems. The second part then distinguishes between models for understanding, predicting and responding to social stimuli. I suggest that responding theories have been somewhat neglected, and that social responding should be considered as an important function of the mirror system, in the same way that grasping objects is an important function of the visuomotor system.
Type
Chapter
Information
Shared Representations
Sensorimotor Foundations of Social Life
 , pp. 313 - 331
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2016

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