Mirror neurons were discovered almost eighteen years ago, which is fairly recent for scientific understanding; it is not yet known the extent of mirror neuron functions or what happens when they are exclusively damaged (Lepage & Theoret, 2007). The areas of the brain thought to make up the MNS are up for debate, but the areas supported by the current research are the inferior frontal gyrus pars opercularis in the prefrontal cortex, the ventral pre-motor cortex, the inferior parietal lobe, and the superior temporal sulcus between the superior and middle temporal gyri. The inferior frontal gyrus is thought to be involeved in inhibition of action and risk aversion (Archibald, 2006). The ventral premotor cortex is part of the Brodmann area 6
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In direct opposition of the ‘broken mirror’ theory, Fan and colleagues (2010) found that ASD subjects and the control group exhibited similar patterns of MU suppression and MNS activity when observing actions as opposed to movement of an object. MU suppression is generally considered to be a reliable indicator of MNS activity through using an EEG to measure sensorimotor resonance. This suggests that mirror neuron functioning is preserved somewhat in ASD individuals. As explained earlier, this study by fan and colleagues (2010) uses extremely simple tasks to demonstrate imitation. Interestingly, the ASD group failed to imitate the hand movements they observed while demonstrating normal MNS activity; this sheds doubt on the theory that the mirror neuron system must be involved in imitation-related impairments. Unfortunately for Fan and colleagues (2010), several other studies discuss familiarity and priming with simple actions; priming may be an issue because the subjects’ mirror neurons are activating from habit and not from interpretation of the social stimulus that is being presented (Ozonoff, 2010). The ASD participants in this study show absolutely no change between execution and observation whereas the control group nearly doubled their suppression levels; this may indicate that the pathway is simply already activated and may not accurately indicate MNS activation (Fat et al., 2010). Fan and colleagues (2010) also state that MU suppression is similar between the ASD group and the control when watching a hand or object, but according to their charts, MU suppression in ASD subjects is more twice the control when watching a dot. This indicates that the MNS is already highly activated compared to the control which limits the accuracy of the
In direct opposition of the ‘broken mirror’ theory, Fan and colleagues (2010) found that ASD subjects and the control group exhibited similar patterns of MU suppression and MNS activity when observing actions as opposed to movement of an object. MU suppression is generally considered to be a reliable indicator of MNS activity through using an EEG to measure sensorimotor resonance. This suggests that mirror neuron functioning is preserved somewhat in ASD individuals. As explained earlier, this study by fan and colleagues (2010) uses extremely simple tasks to demonstrate imitation. Interestingly, the ASD group failed to imitate the hand movements they observed while demonstrating normal MNS activity; this sheds doubt on the theory that the mirror neuron system must be involved in imitation-related impairments. Unfortunately for Fan and colleagues (2010), several other studies discuss familiarity and priming with simple actions; priming may be an issue because the subjects’ mirror neurons are activating from habit and not from interpretation of the social stimulus that is being presented (Ozonoff, 2010). The ASD participants in this study show absolutely no change between execution and observation whereas the control group nearly doubled their suppression levels; this may indicate that the pathway is simply already activated and may not accurately indicate MNS activation (Fat et al., 2010). Fan and colleagues (2010) also state that MU suppression is similar between the ASD group and the control when watching a hand or object, but according to their charts, MU suppression in ASD subjects is more twice the control when watching a dot. This indicates that the MNS is already highly activated compared to the control which limits the accuracy of the