Broken Mirror Theory In Psychology

Superior Essays
For a few years all researches have been agreed that the behavior and the human mind, in normal and pathological conditions, are directly related to the function of nervous system. Also psychiatric disorders of affective or cognitive origin are interpreted as the consequence of a particular pathology of the nervous system. Therefore, neuroscience involves all the different branches of psychology that have the suffix “psych”, as for example psychology, psychiatry, psychopathology. All these specific courses of psychology are linked with the study of the nervous system. There are still some questions about the nervous system and the human behavior that scientists cannot clarify. That being said, it is fundamental that a branch of psychology takes …show more content…
Previously the “theory of mind” was the only acceptable thesis to justify autism (Carruthers, Smith 1996). This illness is a disorder of the infant neurologic development characterized by the difficulty of social interaction and communication and lack of flexibility, repetitive activity due to the complex interaction of genetics, biological and environmental factors. According to this point of view, autism-related disorders might be caused by hypoactivity of mirror neurons, a group of neurons that is activated when an action is happening or when the individual is the spectator of the same action done by another person. These neurons are fundamental in life because they play a specific role in social interaction that allow an individual to recognize and internalize the same mental states of those who have faced as they were their own. Following the “broken mirror theory”, autistic patients would not be able to recognize someone else’s mental states and embody it because of the dysfunction of their neuron mirrors. They are not able to interpret and describe feelings, in particular facial expressions. Thanks to the discovery of the existence of a multitude of genes involved in neurodevelopment processes and the technological evolution in the diagnostic for brain’s images, PET, sMRI and fMRI have had a relevant impact on the comprehension of neurobiological basis in autism through the anatomic and functional study of the cerebral connectivity, which have definitely improved the capacity of examining cognitive processes. In fact, sMRI allow to reproduce high-defined images of the brain’s anatomical structure and it is widely used for the study of the autistic brain’s anatomical alteration. In particular it is used to obtain reliable measure of internal brain’s volume and the grey and white substance. The research

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Why do people choose to fight, where others may decide to flee in a fight or flight scenario? Why do some express sadness and others show happiness in a time of pain? Psychology, which is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes, is research that helps to inform/prove why people act the way they do. There are many reasons to explain questions such as these, but there are seven distinct perspectives that help to demonstrate why. As seen in Laura A. King’s book “The Science of Psychology: An Appreciative View (4th edition)” there are seven contemporary approaches to psychology, that examine questions regarding human behavior.…

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I studied brain and behaviour during my first year of clinical medicine, and found that I was particularly intrigued by neuroscience. Throughout my year at Barts and the London, I thought a lot about whether the course was right for me, and began considering other options. I struggled to feel passionate about the course and my future as a doctor, but decided to complete the year to confirm my feeling that a career in medicine was not right for me. During this year, however, I developed a particular interest in the study of the brain, brain development and human behaviour. These lectures became the highlight of the year, and made me really keen to learn more about the subject.…

    • 666 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The biological level of analysis provides psychologist with scientific evidence for unusual characteristics or behaviors that may present themselves in humans. One principle of the biological level of analysis states that there are biological correlates to behavior. This principal correlates with the idea of localization of functions in the brain in that each area of the brain is responsible for a certain part of our body and therefore our behavior. Michael Gazzaniga is one of the many psychologist to study split brain patients and the behavioral effects that arise due to being split brain. Michael Gazzaniga conducts a series of three experiments in order to determine the extent to which the two halves of the human brain function independently,…

    • 368 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Caldeira, M. (August 2016). Is Social Competence Achievable in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder? Retrieved from Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. Monica Caldeira, who is a graduate student at Western University, uses her thesis paper to examine the social competence of adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Caldeira relates autistic individuals social struggle with the Theory of the Mind.…

    • 371 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Asd And Autism

    • 2966 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Introduction Autism is the most rapid growing developmental disorder in the U.S. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and autism are both similar terms for a group of complicated disorders of brain development. Spectrum Disorders are characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and communication skills with the presence of extremely odd behaviors. Autism is a spectrum condition meaning that while all individuals with autism share somewhat common challenges in their conditions they will all be affected differently. Social communication, interaction and imagination are three main areas of which all of those with autism share. Numerous individuals with ASDs have distinct ways of learning and behaving towards certain situations.…

    • 2966 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Key Perspectives This assignment will look at three different key perspectives in Psychology and evaluate their importance to the field. The three perspectives that I will look at will be Biological, Cognitive and Behaviourism. Discussed herein will be the fundamentals of each perspective followed by a key study that will help further elaborate on that specific field before analysis. Biological Psychologists from the biological approach infer that human behaviour and experiences are caused by activity in the chemical processes of the body. How people think and act are caused by events occurring within the brain.…

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The author, in many of his tales, asks questions that will truly leave the reader thinking about the answer hours later. Despite the use of many clinical terms, it is still a very easy to read two hundred and fifty page book. In a way, it links psychology and neurology, which are always seen as separate, and in a way helps the reader understand just how fine the line between the two are. One need not be only a psychology student to find this book to be enjoyable. Looking at it from a much broader point of view it does, in a way, look at what it means to be…

    • 1351 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Coping of the brain The coping brain is a wonderful thing. This is what helps us get through tough times. The coping of the brain determines our decisions and what we want to do. This paper is about the coping brain.…

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mirror Therapy Case Study

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The physical therapy and the Mirror therapy (MT) have been employed with some success in treating stroke patients. Which of Mirror therapy (MT) or physical therapy would have better results in curing and rehabilitating stroke patients? Stroke can cause common physical problems that are as such; paralysis, movement, balance, or loss of muscle function; especially on one side of the body. Also, some post-stroke patients get problems with their vision, swallowing, tiredness, and controlling their bladder. Both of the physical therapy and the mirror therapy can help with stroke recovery.…

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    the purpose of this presentation is to investigate the personality of Hannibal Leter in terms of the traits, humanistic and psychodynamic conception of personality Gordon Allport claimed that each person exhibits unique qualities: with five main traits that each individual can possesses varying in extents: Extroversion, Agreeableness, Contentiousness, Neuroticism and Openness, with rank high or low to describe a person’s personality Extroversion present high in Hannibal Lecter. Before he was recognized as a serial killer, Lecter portrayed himself to most as a charismatic intellectual, hosting dinner parties and dominating conversations in the movie Red Dragon. He preformed his duties as a psychiatrist admirably and assisting many of his patients.…

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The National Alliance for Autism Research (NAAR) Autism Genome Project have discovered irregularities in the corpus callosum (which affects communication between the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere of the brain), the cerebellum (which affects coordination, balance, and motor activity), and an enlarged amygdala. The amygdala plays an important role in emotion and social behavior by linking perceptual representations to cognition and behavior on the basis of the emotional or social value of the stimuli (Baron-Cohen, et, al, 2000). Recent evidence suggests that people with autism have abnormalities in the amygdala. This accounts for their inability to recognize fearful situations.…

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 5 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Essay On Neurodevelopment

    • 1905 Words
    • 8 Pages

    [5, 6] This pervasive developmental disorder Autism spectrum disorder is more prevalent in males than in females and has recently gained more attention because of its rapid increase in prevalence [5,6]. Today, it is estimated that 69.5 per 10,000 people are on the autism spectrum [6]. Autism spectrum disorder is also comorbid with many other disorders including intellectual disabilities [6]. In a study consisting of 50 toddlers with autism spectrum disorder, brain structure was examines particularly looking at white matter. This study look at the comparison of children with autism spectrum disorder and children with a different type of developmental disability [5].…

    • 1905 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Psychology is the scientific study of the human mind and its functions. Wilhelm Wundt first began research for psychology psychologists have developed from around the world to bring us five main perspectives of psychology, known as, the five schools of thought. The five schools of thought help people to understand why people do certain motions, how people interact with each other, where we develop our mannerisms, and to have a deeper understanding of the human mind, through: biological, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive and humanistic perspectives. Biological psychology is the study of the physiological bases of behavior, which follows “the relationship between psychological processes and the underlying psychological events” (Britannica,…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although they still verbally answer incorrectly, this shows that they do have an understanding of false-belief. When the test was performed with autism children they did not look in the correct location and answered verbally incorrectly as well. The research performer, Ruffman, argues that autistic children lack social insight even though some can pass the tasks. These findings show that even adults with autism that pass the theory-of-mind tasks use different parts of the brain than non-autistic people. People without autism use the prefrontal cortex and temporo-parietal junction that is involved in social-cognitive skills.…

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Psychology Reflection

    • 1267 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Throughout this semester in Intro to Psychology, I have gained a deeper understanding of the entire field of psychology. This has allowed me to better understand how and why people act in certain ways. I have learned about human tendencies, different health or psychological disorders, and a variety of other human characteristics. Through this knowledge base that I have gained during my time in this course, I have learned more about myself and what influences how I experience and view the world. A few concepts that I have applied to my own life and influence me, deal with the ideas of mindset, motivation style, and my developing understanding of social situations.…

    • 1267 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays