Neuroscience
Been reading about mirror neurons a lot lately; first in the April issue of Scientific American Mind (abstract only) and now in the New York Times (from June 4, subscription may be required).
SciAm suggests that mirror neurons are how we learn from the world — learning language, for instance, but also maybe why we yawn when someone else does (are you yawning? I am ...). My buddy Ramachandran is quoted as saying that mirror neurons may be as important to psychology as DNA is to biology.
The New York Times says that some golfers and Nascar drivers make use of mirror neurons by playing video games to improve their skills. It helps them visualize situations they will encounter in their sport. The Penn State football coach is using Madden's NFL game to help train his new players.
Both articles are referring to research conducted by Marco Iacoboni, a mirror-neuron researcher at UCLA's Brain Mapping Center. You can see some of what he's written "recently" from Google Scholar.
Finally, the radio show / podcast Future Tense recently discussed research showing that "that surgeons who warm up by playing video games perform better at simulated surgery." They didn't mention mirror neurons in the podcast, but I bet there is a connection ...
Citations:
Scientific American Mind
April 2006
A Revealing Reflection
By David Dobbs
Mirror neurons are providing stunning insights into everything from how we learn to walk to how we empathize with others
New York Times
June 4, 2006
Sports / Play Magazine: The Home-Screen Advantage
By CLIVE THOMPSON
Hooray for mirror neurons! It turns out that video games can be good training tools. Just ask a Nascar driver or a Penn State QB
Future Tense
May 30, 2006
Jon Gordon
Surgeons who warm up playing video games make fewer mistakes
- This Is My Idea Of Fun Monkeys Playing Video Games
Swinging in the back yard Pull up in your fast car Whistling my name Open up a beer and Say get over here And play a video game Video Games ------Lana Del Rey from Fig.1, Hosokawa & Watanabe (2012). It's you, it's you, it's all for...
- Mirror Neuron Death March
Above image: Jim Peters almost wins the marathon Vancouver, 7 August 1954, with mirror neurons by Rizzolatti & Craighero (2004). Greg Hickok at Talking Brains has a series of posts dismantling the mirror neuron theory of action understanding. Actually,...
- Mirror Neurons Control The Universe
Chris at Mixing Memory has a piece on the latest paper (Freedberg & Gallese, TICS 2007) to describe mirror neurons as accounting for empathy, art, aesthetics, and all forms of nonverbal communication (and and peace, love, and understanding. What's...
- Neurofeedback In Autism
After complaining bitterly about a bad article in NewScientist.com last week, today I'm happy to post a link to another New Scientist story, which discusses a line of very worthwhile research on "brain training" in autism: Brain training can change...
- Mirror Neurons
The cover story of the October 2005 issue of the American Psychological Association Monitor is one of several articles in the issue about mirror neurons: "The Mind's Mirror" by Lea Winerman. - Anthony H. Risser | neuroscience | neuropsychology |...
Neuroscience
Mirror Neurons & Video Games
Been reading about mirror neurons a lot lately; first in the April issue of Scientific American Mind (abstract only) and now in the New York Times (from June 4, subscription may be required).
SciAm suggests that mirror neurons are how we learn from the world — learning language, for instance, but also maybe why we yawn when someone else does (are you yawning? I am ...). My buddy Ramachandran is quoted as saying that mirror neurons may be as important to psychology as DNA is to biology.
The New York Times says that some golfers and Nascar drivers make use of mirror neurons by playing video games to improve their skills. It helps them visualize situations they will encounter in their sport. The Penn State football coach is using Madden's NFL game to help train his new players.
Both articles are referring to research conducted by Marco Iacoboni, a mirror-neuron researcher at UCLA's Brain Mapping Center. You can see some of what he's written "recently" from Google Scholar.
Finally, the radio show / podcast Future Tense recently discussed research showing that "that surgeons who warm up by playing video games perform better at simulated surgery." They didn't mention mirror neurons in the podcast, but I bet there is a connection ...
Citations:
Scientific American Mind
April 2006
A Revealing Reflection
By David Dobbs
Mirror neurons are providing stunning insights into everything from how we learn to walk to how we empathize with others
New York Times
June 4, 2006
Sports / Play Magazine: The Home-Screen Advantage
By CLIVE THOMPSON
Hooray for mirror neurons! It turns out that video games can be good training tools. Just ask a Nascar driver or a Penn State QB
Future Tense
May 30, 2006
Jon Gordon
Surgeons who warm up playing video games make fewer mistakes
- This Is My Idea Of Fun Monkeys Playing Video Games
Swinging in the back yard Pull up in your fast car Whistling my name Open up a beer and Say get over here And play a video game Video Games ------Lana Del Rey from Fig.1, Hosokawa & Watanabe (2012). It's you, it's you, it's all for...
- Mirror Neuron Death March
Above image: Jim Peters almost wins the marathon Vancouver, 7 August 1954, with mirror neurons by Rizzolatti & Craighero (2004). Greg Hickok at Talking Brains has a series of posts dismantling the mirror neuron theory of action understanding. Actually,...
- Mirror Neurons Control The Universe
Chris at Mixing Memory has a piece on the latest paper (Freedberg & Gallese, TICS 2007) to describe mirror neurons as accounting for empathy, art, aesthetics, and all forms of nonverbal communication (and and peace, love, and understanding. What's...
- Neurofeedback In Autism
After complaining bitterly about a bad article in NewScientist.com last week, today I'm happy to post a link to another New Scientist story, which discusses a line of very worthwhile research on "brain training" in autism: Brain training can change...
- Mirror Neurons
The cover story of the October 2005 issue of the American Psychological Association Monitor is one of several articles in the issue about mirror neurons: "The Mind's Mirror" by Lea Winerman. - Anthony H. Risser | neuroscience | neuropsychology |...