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Social Cognition and the Mirror Neuron System of the Brain

Social Cognition and the Mirror Neuron System of the Brain. Jaime A. Pineda, Ph.D. Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory COGS1 class. Motivating Questions. How do our brains perceive the mental states of others despite their inaccessibility?

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Social Cognition and the Mirror Neuron System of the Brain

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  1. Social Cognition and the Mirror Neuron System of the Brain Jaime A. Pineda, Ph.D. Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory COGS1 class

  2. Motivating Questions • How do our brains perceive the mental states of others despite their inaccessibility? • How do we understand the actions, emotions and the intentions of others? • Rationally? • Intuitively? • How do we understand first- and third-person experiences?

  3. Classic Explanation • Theory-Theory (argument from analogy; disembodied knowledge; visual hypothesis) • Involves striate, extrastriate, inferotemporal lobe and superior temporal sulcus, among others

  4. A Different Perspective • Simulation Theory (Direct-matching hypothesis; embodied knowledge) • Map visual information onto motor representations of the same action • Mirroring systems • bridges between perception and action that allow for simulation • Mirror neurons • EEG Mu rhythms

  5. A Different Perspective • Simulation Theory (Direct-matching hypothesis; embodied knowledge) • Map visual information onto motor representations of the same action • Mirroring systems • bridges between perception and action that allow for simulation • Mirror neurons • EEG Mu rhythms

  6. The Mirror Neuron System Pineda, Beh & Brain Functions, 2008, 4, 47 Iacoboni and Dapretto, Nature Reviews, 2006,7:942-951

  7. Visual system's ability to recover object information from sparse input Gender Activity engaged in Emotional state Biological Motion

  8. Biological Motion Perception: Monkeys • Perret and colleagues (1989; 1990; 1994) Cells in superior temporal polysensory area (STPa) of the macaque temporal cortex appear sensitive to biological motion Oram & Perrett, J. Cog. Neurosci., 1994, 6(2), 99-116

  9. Biological Motion Perception: Humans • An area in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) in humans responds to biological motion • Other areas do as well, including frontal cortex, SMA, insula, thalamus, amygdala Grossman et al. J. Cog. Neurosci., 2000, 12(5), 711-720

  10. Brain Circuit for Social Perception (SP) • SP is processing of information that results in the accurate analysis of the intentions of others • STS involved in the processing of a variety of social signals Allison et al., Trends in Cog. Sci., 2000, 4, 267-272

  11. Mirror Neurons • A specific class of neurons that discharge both when the monkey performs an action and when it observes a similar action done by another monkey or an experimenter • Found in: • area F5 (homolog of Broca’s area); 10-20% • inferior parietal cortex (PF/7b) • Activated by: • Goal directed actions (reaching, grasping, holding) • Observation of similar actions performed by “biological” agents Di Pellegrino et al., Exp. Brain Res., 1992, 91, 176-80

  12. Rizzolatti et al., Cogn. Brain Res., 1996, 3:131-141 Mirror Neuron Activity

  13. Perception-to-Action Mapping Selectivity Congruent (effector dependent) Logically-Related (effector independent; 2X) Perception Action

  14. Understanding Intentions Grasping Mimicking Umilta et al. Neuron, 2001, 32: 91-101

  15. Mirror Neuron System Sensorimotor cortex Inferior parietal lobule Inferior frontal gyrus Superior temporal sulcus

  16. Response facilitation Mimicry Simulation Imitation learning Understanding actions Understanding intentions Empathy Theory of Mind Language Functional Significance

  17. Characterizing the System generalizability? motivational significance? biological realism? intentionality? social relevance? anthropomorphism? transitive/intransitive actions? learning? MNS activity No MNS Activity

  18. Mu Rhythm • 8-13 Hz oscillation over sensorimotor cortex Normal Oscillation Self Action Observed Action

  19. Frequency Analysis of Mu Rhythm (8-13 Hz) Power (10-14 Hz) Frequency

  20. Pineda et al., IEEE Trans. Rehab. Engr., 2000, 8(2): 219-222 Does Mu Suppression Reflect Mirror Activity? Baseline Move Observe Imagine

  21. Action Observation and Social Interaction • To what degree do mu rhythms, like mirror neurons, reflect social interaction?   Oberman et al., Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2007, 2, 62-66

  22. Experimental Paradigm • Measured mu power (2 min of EEG) in normals (n=20) ages 18-34 (mean=21.1, SD=3.40 ) under different observation conditions: • Non-interacting • Social Action - Spectator • Social Action - Interactive • Visual white noise • Engaged in continuous performance task during observation

  23. Non-interacting Social Action - Spectator Social Action - Interactive

  24. Results

  25. Results

  26. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) • Problems in the following domains: • Social ability • Language development • Behavior

  27. Common Characteristics Impairment in social play and imagination Impaired ability to initiate conversations with others Repetitive behaviors Impaired sustained attention Trouble Imitating others Difficulty interpreting actions and intentions of others Absence of empathy

  28. Autism: A Dysfunctional Mirror System? • No common underlying mechanism has been identified • Deficits in imitation learning – Rogers and Pennington, 1991 • Deficits in mirror neuron system - Williams et al., 2001

  29. Hypothesis • If mu rhythms reflect MNS activity and the capacity to understand actions as well as learn through imitation, then autistics should show differences in mu rhythms compared to controls Oberman et al., Cog. Brain Res. 2005, 24: 190-198

  30. Experimental Paradigm • Measured mu power (2 min of EEG) in normals (n=12) and autistics (n=10) under different conditions: • Self-movement of hand • Watching video of someone moving their hand • Watching a video of a ball moving up and down Oberman et al., Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 2005, 24(2):190-8.

  31. Results

  32. Results Oberman et al., Neuropsychologia, 2008 Jan 19 [Epub ahead of print]

  33. Creating a Temporary “Autistic” Brain • Do sensorimotor mu rhythms reflect downstream modulation from cells in premotor cortex? • RATIONALE • If mirror neurons in IFG are involved in the direct modulation of mu rhythms, then temporary inhibition of these neurons should prevent suppression of mu rhythms and cause “autistic-like” behaviors.

  34. Method • Measured EEG mu power in typically developing adults (n=8) under different conditions before and after IFG stimulation • Observation of movement (4 videos) • Simple (hand movements) and complex (social interactions) • Baron-Cohen’s Eyes Task • Emotion and gender discrimination • 1 Hz rTMS (5 min at ~ 40-50% MEP threshold) targeted at left IFG

  35. Eyes Task

  36. Results Accuracy Reaction Time

  37. Results

  38. Plasticity Induced Rehabilitation Training Frontoparietal areas in an ASD brain may be underconnected If we change the dynamics of the sensorimotor mu oscillations, And these oscillations are functionally linked to the MNS network (IFG, IPL, STS), Then we may change functional connectivity and recover MNS engagement, Leading to positive changes. SM Cortex IPL IFG STS

  39. Training 30 min x 3/week x 10 weeks HF ASD: 7-17 yr olds; n=20 Experimental/Control groups Mu activity above threshold (E) EMG activity below threshold (E/C) Reversing Social Deficits in Autism? Pineda et al., Research in ASD, 2008

  40. Pre/Post Assessments • Verification of diagnosis (IQ, ADI, ADOS) • Quantitative EEG (QEEG) • Test of Variable Attention (TOVA) • Imitation ability (Apraxia imitation test) • Mu suppression index (MSI) • Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) • Neuroimaging (fMRI, fcMRI)

  41. Pre/Post Assessments Facial Emotions (n-back) Eyes Emotion Task - ToM Physical Causation - ToM Mental Attribution- ToM

  42. Behavioral Performance ASD TD

  43. Mu Suppression Index

  44. EEG Coherence

  45. Sustained Attention • Reduction trend in ADHD score for experimental group

  46. Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist

  47. Future: Neuroimaging Techniques structural Diffusion Tensor Imaging Functional connectivity functional

  48. A Fundamental Organizational Feature of the Brain? “Understanding others as intentional agents may be grounded in the relational nature of our interactions with the world” • Beyond understanding actions • emotions: the root of empathy? • sounds and other senses • language • Other problems in “mirroring” • Aberrant imitation learning: addiction?

  49. What Is It Like To Be…? Can aspects of subjective experience be reduced to brain activity? Thomas Nagel, The Philosophical Review 83 (1974).

  50. Vilayanur Ramachandran Lindsay Oberman Eric Altschuler Andrey Vankov Bill Skinner Chulie Ulloa Brendan Allison Ed Hubbard Joe McCleery Erin Hecht David Brang Scott Carey Adrienne Moore Rajiv Rao Chris Robinson Hanie Elfenbein Alex Bressler Steven Thurman Jena Davis Dong Suk Christa Futagaki Judith Kaye Lee Edwards Ralph-Axel Mueller Brandon Keehn Collaborators and Students • Oriana Clark • Jia-Min Bai • Derrick Asher • Dane Chambers • Matt Earhardt • Heather Pelton • Alicia Trigerio • Albert Ayala • Stephen Johnson • Steve Gilmore • Nick Pojman • Kelly Head

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