Questions about mirror neurons

Abstract

Neurosciences are assuming an increasingly relevant influence in both psychological culture and common sense. This work refers to an initial exploration about the knowledge produced by neurosciences. We assumed the theory of mirror neurons as a reference, which is the object of a wide scientific and cultural debate, starting from a summary textbook that is representative on the issue: The myth of mirror neurons written by Gregory Hickok. In the first part of this work, we highlighted how the lack of models of social relationships produces a systematic ignorance of contextual and subjective dimensions, regarding both the experimental procedures at the basis of the theory and the interactive situations described in the book. In the second part, we examined the mirror neurons theory with specific regard to some psychological dimensions, such as the understanding of the meaning of others’ actions, imitative learning, emotions and the relations among neuroscience, psychology, and psychoanalysis.