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Associative learning alone is insufficient for the evolution and maintenance of the human mirror neuron system
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 April 2014
Abstract
Cook et al. argue that mirror neurons originate from associative learning processes, without evolutionary influence from social-cognitive mechanisms. We disagree with this claim and present arguments based upon cross-species comparisons, EEG findings, and developmental neuroscience that the evolution of mirror neurons is most likely driven simultaneously and interactively by evolutionarily adaptive psychological mechanisms and lower-level biological mechanisms that support them.
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Associative learning alone is insufficient for the evolution and maintenance of the human mirror neuron system
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