Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id SAA17412 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 30 Jan 2001 18:24:12 GMT Message-ID: <003201c08ae9$16e6a040$5eaefea9@cable.rcn.com> From: "Aaron Agassi" <agassi@erols.com> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> References: <5.0.2.1.0.20010129232408.021b68d0@pop3.htcomp.net> <3A76F332.FF82C86B@pacbell.net> Subject: Re: Mirror neurons Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 13:18:47 -0500 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4522.1200 X-Mimeole: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4522.1200 Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Spight" <bspight@pacbell.net>
To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2001 12:00 PM
Subject: Re: Mirror neurons
> Dear Mark,
>
> > From "Read My Mind" in New Scientist, 1/24/01
> >
> > "Vittorio Gallese, Giacomo Rizzolatti and their colleagues at the
> > University of Parma have identified an entirely new class of
> > neurons. These neurons are active when their owners perform a certain
> > task, and in this respect are wholly unremarkable. But, more
> > interestingly, the same neurons fire when their owner watches someone
else
> > perform that same task. The team has dubbed the novel nerve cells
'mirror'
> > neurons, because they seem to be firing in sympathy, reflecting or
perhaps
> > simulating the actions of others.
> >
>
> What makes them novel? How do they differ from other neurons? Just
> because they fire in certain situations is not enough to say that they
> are a different *kind* of neuron. Most people listen to music primarily
> with their right brain, but musicians listen with both hemispheres. That
> has been well known for many years, but no one felt it necessary to
> postulate special "rehearsal" or "music" neurons to explain the
> phenomenon.
>
> > Many neuroscientists are starting to think that in higher primates,
> > including humans, these neurons play pivotal role in understanding the
> > intentions of others.
>
> It would not at all suprise me to find that cats or rats show similar
> patterns of neuron firing. One behavior that has been observed in lab
> rats is pausing at the intersection of a maze, sometimes moving the head
> in one direction or another. Even the behaviorists called this VTE,
> vicarious trial and error. What neurons fire then? Maybe what are being
> called "mirror" neurons.
>
> Best,
>
> Bill
>
A fine demonstration of Popperian non-Justificationism:
That Science begins with unfounded conjecture, and that evidentiary support
for any given hypothesis must support the hypothesis in question better than
the very same evidence can support any competing hypotheses.
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