Mirror Neurons
Cells that fire both when an animal acts and when it watches the same action; their role in human empathy is contested.
What it is
Mirror neurons were found in the premotor cortex of macaque monkeys, where the same cells responded when the monkey performed an action and when it watched another perform it. They are sometimes offered as the mechanism behind contagious behaviour such as yawning, but Robert Provine treated that as unlikely, pointing to imaging work on other brain regions.
In effect
In the article on why yawning is contagious, it is one proposed mechanism that the evidence does not clearly support.
What it does not say
The cells are real in monkeys. Claims that they explain empathy, imitation or contagious yawning in humans go beyond the evidence.
Sources
- Provine, R. R. (2005). Yawning. American Scientist, 93(6), 532-539.
- Sapolsky, R. Behave.