Facts about Mirror Neuron System
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Damage to the mirror neuron system has been hypothesized to contribute to social and communicative difficulties observed in autism spectrum disorder.
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Some researchers propose the mirror neuron system plays a key role in empathy by allowing individuals to internally simulate the emotional states of others.
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In humans, brain imaging studies suggest mirror neuron activity occurs in regions including the inferior frontal gyrus and inferior parietal lobule.
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Giacomo Rizzolatti and his colleagues at the University of Parma discovered mirror neurons in the 1990s while studying the premotor cortex of macaque monkeys.
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The mirror neuron system, first discovered in macaque monkeys, contains neurons that fire both when an animal performs an action and when it observes the same action performed by another.