The Myth of Mirror Neurons: The Real Neuroscience of Communication and Cognition

by Gregory Hickok

Description

"In The Myth of Mirror Neurons, neuroscientist Gregory Hickok reexamines the mirror neuron story and finds that it is built on a tenuous foundation--a pair of codependent assumptions about mirror neuron activity and human understanding. Drawing on a broad range of observations from work on animal behavior, modern neuroimaging, neurological disorders, and more, Hickok argues that the foundational assumptions fall flat in light of the facts. He then explores alternative explanations of mirror show more neuron function while illuminating crucial questions about human cognition and brain function: Why do humans imitate so prodigiously? How different are the left and right hemispheres of the brain? Why do we have two visual systems? Do we need to be able to talk to understand speech? What's going wrong in autism? Can humans read minds? The Myth of Mirror Neurons not only delivers an instructive tale about the course of scientific progress--from discovery to theory to revision--but also provides deep insights into the organization and function of the human brain and the nature of communication and cognition." -- Publisher's description. show less

Recommendations

Who's in Charge?: Free Will and the Science of the Brain by Michael S. Gazzaniga

Who's in Charge?: Free Will and the Science of the Brain

Michael S. Gazzaniga

The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human by V. S. Ramachandran

The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human

V. S. Ramachandran

The Ravenous Brain by Daniel Bor

The Ravenous Brain

Daniel Bor

Mapping the Mind by Rita Carter

Mapping the Mind

Rita Carter

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales

Oliver Sacks

The Brain That Changes Itself : Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science by Norman Doidge

The Brain That Changes Itself : Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science

Norman Doidge

Connectome: How the Brain's Wiring Makes Us Who We Are by Sebastian Seung

Connectome: How the Brain's Wiring Makes Us Who We Are

Sebastian Seung

Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality by Patricia S. Churchland

Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality

Patricia S. Churchland

Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts by Stanislas Dehaene

Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts

Stanislas Dehaene

Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind by V. S. Ramachandran

Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind

V. S. Ramachandran

Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain by Antonio Damasio

Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain

Antonio Damasio

A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness: From Impostor Poodles to Purple Numbers by V. S. Ramachandran

A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness: From Impostor Poodles to Purple Numbers

V. S. Ramachandran

The Future of the Brain: Essays by the World's Leading Neuroscientists by Gary Marcus

The Future of the Brain: Essays by the World's Leading Neuroscientists

Gary Marcus

Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain by Antonio Damasio

Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain

Antonio Damasio

Tales from Both Sides of the Brain: A Life in Neuroscience by Michael S. Gazzaniga

Tales from Both Sides of the Brain: A Life in Neuroscience

Michael S. Gazzaniga

Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are by Joseph LeDoux

Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are

Joseph LeDoux

The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness by Antonio Damasio

The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness

Antonio Damasio

Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain by Patricia S. Churchland

Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain

Patricia S. Churchland

Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman

Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain

David Eagleman

The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force by Jeffrey M. Schwartz

The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force

Jeffrey M. Schwartz

Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique by Michael S. Gazzaniga

Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique

Michael S. Gazzaniga

The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present by Eric Kandel

The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present

Eric Kandel

Phi: A Voyage from the Brain to the Soul by Giulio Tononi

Phi: A Voyage from the Brain to the Soul

Giulio Tononi

Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life by Steven Johnson

Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life

Steven Johnson

A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind: What Neuroscience Can and Cannot Tell Us About Ourselves by Robert A. Burton

A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind: What Neuroscience Can and Cannot Tell Us About Ourselves

Robert A. Burton

Mirroring People: The New Science of How We Connect with Others by Marco Iacoboni

Mirroring People: The New Science of How We Connect with Others

Marco Iacoboni

Top Brain, Bottom Brain: Surprising Insights into How You Think by Stephen Kosslyn

Top Brain, Bottom Brain: Surprising Insights into How You Think

Stephen Kosslyn

How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker

How the Mind Works

Steven Pinker

In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind by Eric R. Kandel

In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind

Eric R. Kandel

Brain Bugs: How the Brain's Flaws Shape Our Lives by Dean Buonomano

Brain Bugs: How the Brain's Flaws Shape Our Lives

Dean Buonomano

Joy, Guilt, Anger, Love: What neuroscience can - and can't - tell us about how we feel by Giovanni Frazzetto

Joy, Guilt, Anger, Love: What neuroscience can - and can't - tell us about how we feel

Giovanni Frazzetto

Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist by Christof Koch

Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist

Christof Koch

The Self Illusion: How the Social Brain Creates Identity by Bruce Hood

The Self Illusion: How the Social Brain Creates Identity

Bruce Hood

An Anthropologist On Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales by Oliver Sacks

An Anthropologist On Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales

Oliver Sacks

Thinking: The New Science of Decision-Making, Problem-Solving, and Prediction (Best of Edge Series) by John Brockman

Thinking: The New Science of Decision-Making, Problem-Solving, and Prediction (Best of Edge Series)

John Brockman

The Other Brain: From Dementia to Schizophrenia, How New Discoveries about the Brain Are Revolutionizing Medicine and Science by R. Douglas Fields

The Other Brain: From Dementia to Schizophrenia, How New Discoveries about the Brain Are Revolutionizing Medicine and Science

R. Douglas Fields

An Alchemy of Mind: The Marvel and Mystery of the Brain by Diane Ackerman

An Alchemy of Mind: The Marvel and Mystery of the Brain

Diane Ackerman

Cognitive Neuroscience: The Biology of the Mind by Michael S. Gazzaniga

Cognitive Neuroscience: The Biology of the Mind

Michael S. Gazzaniga

Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience by Sally Satel

Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience

Sally Satel

Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter by Terrence W. Deacon

Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter

Terrence W. Deacon

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain

Oliver Sacks

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

Robert M. Sapolsky

Social: why our brains are wired to connect by Matthew D. Lieberman

Social: why our brains are wired to connect

Matthew D. Lieberman

The Brain: The Story of You by David Eagleman

The Brain: The Story of You

David Eagleman

Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain by Mark F. Bear

Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain

Mark F. Bear

Principles of Neural Science by Eric R. Kandel

Principles of Neural Science

Eric R. Kandel

Consciousness and the Social Brain by Michael S. A. Graziano

Consciousness and the Social Brain

Michael S. A. Graziano

A User's Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain by John J. Ratey

A User's Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain

John J. Ratey

The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Neuroscience by John Bickle

The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Neuroscience

John Bickle

The Mind's Eye by Oliver Sacks

The Mind's Eye

Oliver Sacks

Complete Recommendations

Member Reviews

Featured Recent Thumbs

1 review

Paul_S 941 reviews

Before reading the book I didn't really care whether or not the theory of mirror neurons is overhyped or not and after reading not much has changed in that regard. I'm not a neuroscientist. But I learned a lot on the way while the author was very convincingly showing the weaknesses of that theory.

Ratings