鏡像神經(jīng)元1992年首次在猴子大腦中發(fā)現(xiàn)，這種神經(jīng)元不只在猴子自己做動作的時候會活化,，在猴子只是看到別只猴子或別人做動作的時候也會活化,。鏡像神經(jīng)元主要是在腦中投射看到的行為或動作，使之感同身受,。但是一直沒有確鑿的證據(jù)證明人腦中也存在鏡像神經(jīng)元,。在12日的《神經(jīng)科學雜志》上，英國倫敦大學科學家的研究為人腦中存在鏡像神經(jīng)元提供了強有力的證據(jù),。
英國倫敦大學詹姆斯·基勒領導的研究小組利用功能性磁振造影(fMRI,functional MRI) 技術(shù)檢查人腦中鏡像神經(jīng)元存在的跡象,。志愿者被分為兩組，一組執(zhí)行用手指拉動拉環(huán)的動作,，另一組觀看別人演示這個動作,。結(jié)果表明兩組志愿者大腦額下回同樣存在神經(jīng)沖動,。這是科學家首次在人腦中發(fā)現(xiàn)這一現(xiàn)象。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
The Journal of Neuroscience, August 12, 2009, 29(32):10153-10159; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2668-09.2009
Evidence of Mirror Neurons in Human Inferior Frontal Gyrus
James M. Kilner,1 Alice Neal,1 Nikolaus Weiskopf,1 Karl J. Friston,1 and Chris D. Frith1,2
1The Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, UCL, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom, and 2Niels Bohr Project "Interacting Minds," Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, University of Aarhus, 8000 ?rhus, Denmark
There is much current debate about the existence of mirror neurons in humans. To identify mirror neurons in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) of humans, we used a repetition suppression paradigm while measuring neural activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Subjects either executed or observed a series of actions. Here we show that in the IFG, responses were suppressed both when an executed action was followed by the same rather than a different observed action and when an observed action was followed by the same rather than a different executed action. This pattern of responses is consistent with that predicted by mirror neurons and is evidence of mirror neurons in the human IFG.
