John Benjamins Publishing Company
Reflections on the differential organization of mirror neuron systems for hand and mouth and their role in the evolution of communication in primates
-
Abstract
It is now generally accepted that the motor system is not purely dedicated to the control of behavior, but also has cognitive functions. Mirror neurons have provided a new perspective on how sensory information regarding others’ actions and gestures is coupled with the internal cortical motor representation of them. This coupling allows an individual to enrich his interpretation of the social world through the activation of his own motor representations. Such mechanisms have been highly preserved in evolution as they are present in humans, apes and monkeys. Recent neuroanatomical data showed that there are two different connectivity patterns in mirror neuron networks in the macaque: one is concerned with sensorimotor transformation in relation to reaching and hand grasping within the traditional parietal-premotor circuits; the second one is linked to the mouth/face motor control and the new data show that it is connected with limbic structures. The mouth mirror sector seems to be wired not only for ingestive behaviors but also for orofacial communicative gestures and vocalizations. Notably, the hand and mouth mirror networks partially overlap, suggesting the importance of hand-mouth synergies not only for sensorimotor transformation, but also for communicative purposes in order to better convey and control social signals.
Abstract
It is now generally accepted that the motor system is not purely dedicated to the control of behavior, but also has cognitive functions. Mirror neurons have provided a new perspective on how sensory information regarding others’ actions and gestures is coupled with the internal cortical motor representation of them. This coupling allows an individual to enrich his interpretation of the social world through the activation of his own motor representations. Such mechanisms have been highly preserved in evolution as they are present in humans, apes and monkeys. Recent neuroanatomical data showed that there are two different connectivity patterns in mirror neuron networks in the macaque: one is concerned with sensorimotor transformation in relation to reaching and hand grasping within the traditional parietal-premotor circuits; the second one is linked to the mouth/face motor control and the new data show that it is connected with limbic structures. The mouth mirror sector seems to be wired not only for ingestive behaviors but also for orofacial communicative gestures and vocalizations. Notably, the hand and mouth mirror networks partially overlap, suggesting the importance of hand-mouth synergies not only for sensorimotor transformation, but also for communicative purposes in order to better convey and control social signals.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introducing the Volume 1
-
An Old Road Map to Draw Upon
- Computational challenges of evolving the language-ready brain 7
- Computational challenges of evolving the language-ready brain 22
-
Starting from the Macaque
- Reflections on the differential organization of mirror neuron systems for hand and mouth and their role in the evolution of communication in primates 38
- Plasticity, innateness, and the path to language in the primate brain 54
- Voice, gesture and working memory in the emergence of speech 70
-
Bringing in Emotion
- Relating the evolution of Music-Readiness and Language-Readiness within the context of comparative neuroprimatology 86
- Why do we want to talk? 102
- Mind the gap – moving beyond the dichotomy between intentional gestures and emotional facial and vocal signals of nonhuman primates 121
-
Turn-taking and Prosociality
- From sharing food to sharing information 136
- Social manipulation, turn-taking and cooperation in apes 151
- Language origins 167
-
Imitation, Pantomime and Development
- The evolutionary roots of human imitation, action understanding and symbols 183
- Pantomime and imitation in great apes 200
- From action to spoken and signed language through gesture 216
- Praxis, symbol and language 239
-
Action, Tool Making and Language
- Archaeology and the evolutionary neuroscience of language 256
- Tracing the evolutionary trajectory of verbal working memory with neuro-archaeology 272
- From actions to events 289
-
Meaning and Grammar Emerging
- From evolutionarily conserved frontal regions for sequence processing to human innovations for syntax 318
- The evolution of enhanced conceptual complexity and of Broca’s area 336
- Mental travels and the cognitive basis of language 352
-
The Road Map
- The comparative neuroprimatology 2018 (CNP-2018) road map for research on How the Brain Got Language 370
- Index 389
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introducing the Volume 1
-
An Old Road Map to Draw Upon
- Computational challenges of evolving the language-ready brain 7
- Computational challenges of evolving the language-ready brain 22
-
Starting from the Macaque
- Reflections on the differential organization of mirror neuron systems for hand and mouth and their role in the evolution of communication in primates 38
- Plasticity, innateness, and the path to language in the primate brain 54
- Voice, gesture and working memory in the emergence of speech 70
-
Bringing in Emotion
- Relating the evolution of Music-Readiness and Language-Readiness within the context of comparative neuroprimatology 86
- Why do we want to talk? 102
- Mind the gap – moving beyond the dichotomy between intentional gestures and emotional facial and vocal signals of nonhuman primates 121
-
Turn-taking and Prosociality
- From sharing food to sharing information 136
- Social manipulation, turn-taking and cooperation in apes 151
- Language origins 167
-
Imitation, Pantomime and Development
- The evolutionary roots of human imitation, action understanding and symbols 183
- Pantomime and imitation in great apes 200
- From action to spoken and signed language through gesture 216
- Praxis, symbol and language 239
-
Action, Tool Making and Language
- Archaeology and the evolutionary neuroscience of language 256
- Tracing the evolutionary trajectory of verbal working memory with neuro-archaeology 272
- From actions to events 289
-
Meaning and Grammar Emerging
- From evolutionarily conserved frontal regions for sequence processing to human innovations for syntax 318
- The evolution of enhanced conceptual complexity and of Broca’s area 336
- Mental travels and the cognitive basis of language 352
-
The Road Map
- The comparative neuroprimatology 2018 (CNP-2018) road map for research on How the Brain Got Language 370
- Index 389
