Mirror neurons in the tree of life, development and evolution of sensorimotor matching responses

Abstract

Mirror neurons in the tree of life rappresenta lo sviluppo e l' evoluzione del sistema dei neuroni specchio nei primati umani, non - umani e di alcune specie di uccelli, utilizzando metodi cooptati dalla filosofia della biologia e la biologia teorica, per integrare dati relativi al sistema nervoso e al comportamento delle specie in esame.

Mirror neurons in the tree of life is a collection of articles written during my three years Ph.D. in Behavioural Biology - Neuroscience and represent the development and evolution of an interpretation of mirror neuron system ontogeny and phylogeny in primates and some species of songbirds. Different articles try to inquire different perspectives of the same theme that is how discrete populations of mirror neurons develop during lifespan and what their evolutionary history might be. In developing such an empirical – based theoretical framework of mirror neurons ontogeny and phylogeny, I have utilized an analytical approach to the current literature that examines the ways in which the cognitive mechanisms supporting action and perception are connected. I investigated the emergence of the mirror neuron system in human and non-human species, by using the methods of Philosophy of Science and Theoretical Biology to integrate behavioural and neural data.