Mirror Neurons Redux

Yesterday I posted about "mirror neurons." Psychologist Alison Gopnik offers a slightly different, more skeptical take on them here:

http://www.slate.com/id/2165123/fr/flyout

Mirror, Mirror... In the Brain

One of the most intriguing discoveries of the last decade in neuroscience has been the existence of "mirror neurons" in the primate brain; neurons that not only fire when an individual is engaged in certain tasks, but also fire when merely watching another individual engaged in that task. They have a multitude of behavioral, social, and evolutionary implications. Some relevant articles below:

from the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/10/science/10mirr.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

from ScienceDaily:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071106123725.htm

from the Edge site:

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/ramachandran06/ramachandran06_index.html

and finally, Nova video here:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3204/01.html