The rapid development of neuroscience has shown how numerous aspects of behaviour reflect the characteristics of the nervous system and how having experiences depends on the interaction between numerous brain functions. In 1996 Rizzolatti’s team published an article in the journal Brain entitled “&quot: Action Recognition in the Premotor Cortex&quot”, in which they demonstrated the existence of a special class of cells, defined as “mirror neurons”. When we perform a movement, we program it based on the objective we have set for ourselves: we perform different gestures and movements based on the act we want to perform, for example, having a cup of tea or clearing the table. There is a close link between motility and thought and that is often reflected by the way our mind works. Mirror neuron activity is not affected by the presence of food or the character of the visual stimulus, but, rather, by acts performed by the experimenter involving and effector-object interaction.

Mirror neurons, motor action, neuroscience

Cfr. B. Gallo, Neuroscienze e apprendimento, Napoli, Ellissi Editore, 2003, p. 50

Oliverio A. La mente in azione. Il ruolo della motricità nei processi di rappresentazione mentale. In Montessori Centenary Conference 1907-2007, Vita dell’Infanzia, 56, 27-34, 2007. Oliverio A. Il cervello che impara, Giunti, 2017.

N.P. Friedman e A. Miyake Unity and diversity of executive functions: Individual differences as a window on cognitive structure

L. Fadiga, L. Fogassi, V. Gallese, Neuroni specchio, 2008

This particular experiment showed that the kind of grip provoking the largest number of discharges during the seizing and the kind of favourite object during the observation of the action corresponded: for instance, “precision grip neurons” discharged only when the macaque monkey observed a small object. According to these observations: the working hypothesis on F5 neurons was that this cell cluster represented a sort of vocabulary of possible motor actions and that the stimulation of sensorial features of objects selected the adequate actions from this motor vocabulary. For instance, the observation of an object as big as a tennis ball would fire neurons which codify a grip throughout the whole hand, while the vision of an object as big as a grape would fire neurons codifying a precision grip.

G. Hickok (2014), The Mith of Mirror Neurons. The Real Neuroscience Of Communication and Cognition., 1st Edition. New York: W.W Norton & Co Inc (Trad. t., Il mito dei neuroni specchio. Comunicazione e facoltà cognitive. La nuova frontiera, Torino: Bollati Boringhieri Editore, 2015) p. 19

G. Pellegrino, L. Fadiga, L. Fogassi, V. Gallese, G. Rizzolatti, Understanding motor events: a neurophysiological study. In «Exp. Brain Res». 91, 1992, p. 179

Ibidem

Cfr. P. Broca, Remarques sur le siège de la faculté du langage articulé; suivies d’une observation d’aphémie (perte de la parole), in «Bullettins de la Société Anatomique di Paris». Vol. 6, 1861, pp. 330-57, 298-497; P. Broca, Sur le siége de la faculté du langage articulé, in «Bullentis de la Societé d’Anthropologie», vol. 6, 1865, pp. 337-93

G. Rizzolatti et al., Localization of Grasp Representations in Humans by PET: I. Observation Versus Execution, in «Experimental Brain Research», vol III, 1996, pp. 246-52

Cfr. G. Hickok (2014), The Mith of Mirror Neurons. The Real Neuroscience Of Communication and Cognition., 1st Edition. New York: W.W Norton & Co Inc (Trad. t., Il mito dei neuroni specchio. Comunicazione e facoltà cognitive. La nuova frontiera, Torino: Bollati Boringhieri Editore, 2015), pp. 23-24

Ibid. p. 24-25

M. Merlo, Neuroni specchio, 2009, in «Medico e bambino», p. 2

Cfr. L. Fadiga, L. Fogassi, G. Rizzolatti, V. Gallese, Action recognition in the premotor cortex, in «Brain», 119, 1996, pp. 596-597

Cfr. G. Rizzolatti, C. Sinigaglia, So quel che fai. Il cervello che agisce e i neuroni specchio, Milano, Raffello Cortina Editore, 2006, p. 81-82

L. Fadiga, L. Fogassi, V. Gallese, Neuroni specchio, 2008, p. 5

Cfr. M. Merlo, Neuroni specchio, in «Medico e bambino», 2009, pp. 1-9

Cfr. M. Merlo, Neuroni specchio, in «Medico e bambino», 2009