Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Perceiving
own behavior
Displaying
behavior
Evaluating
own behavior
Intention to
behavior
Feedback cycle own behavior
The trick of the mirror system is that the brain cells that evaluate our
own behavior also can receive input from other sensory systems, in this
case the observation of somebody else
s behavior, that is comparable
either in form or intention. So the brain cells that evaluate whether a
cup is taken in the right way from the table will also be active in evaluat-
ing when somebody else takes a cup from the table. In this case, the eval-
uating cells are the connectors between an internal evaluating process of
one
'
s own behavior and the evaluation of a similar process performed
by somebody else that arrives via external perception.
'
In the scheme, we add a second perception. So now we have the per-
ception of one
s own behavior and the perception of the behavior of
somebody else. Both perceptions arrive at the same brain cells, and for
these cells it is difficult to make a distinction between the two inputs.
Because they resemble each other so much, they are processed in the
same way, and in the rest of the cycle it is hardly distinguished which
reaction is from which input. The perception of one
'
'
s own behavior has
the same status as the perception of the other
s behavior. We process the
intention of ourselves in the same way as the intention of the other. In
other words, somebody else
'
s intention is felt as our own intention. Even
chimpanzees and gorillas have these mirror functions.
'
Perceiving
own behavior
Perceiving
other's behavior
Displaying
behavior
Evaluating
behavior
Intention to
behavior
Other's behavio
r
Own behavior
Mirror function
