Given their press, you would think that mirror neurons solved
some great big problems with understanding the brain. But the
fuss seemed to me to be premature. We do not need more ‘magic’
ideas; we need explanatory ones. Now it appears that mirror
neurons may be part of a useful system. Research Digest has a
posting on research by R. Mukamel and group that uses recording
from single cells in humans (here). Most of the 1177 cells that
were recorded showed a response either to the execution of an
action or the sight of that action, not both. However, there was
a significant subset of ‘mirror’ neurons in the front of the
brain, including the supplementary motor area, and in the
temporal lobe, including the hippocampus, that responded to the
sight and execution of the very same actions. So it seems humans
do have them. Critics could argue that rather than having mirror
properties, these cells were responding to a concept. For
example, according to this argument, a cell that responded to
the sight of a smile and th