Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T17:02:35.908Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The functional and developmental role of imitation in the (a)typical brain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2017

Luca Casartelli  and
Valentina Parma
Luca Casartelli
Affiliation:
Scientific Institute IRCCS Medea, Child Psychopathology Unit, 23842 – Bosisio Parini (Lecco), Italy. [email protected]://neurophilosophy.unimi.it/people.php
Valentina Parma
Affiliation:
International School for Advanced Studies – SISSA, Neuroscience Area, 34136 Trieste, Italy. [email protected]://insula.sissa.it/people/valentina-parma Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden. Center for Autism Research, Philadelphia, PA 19104.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Keven & Akins (K&A) propose a biologically plausible view of neonatal imitation based on the analysis of sensorimotor development. Here, we consider imitation in the general context of motor cognition, taking examples from both typical and atypical development. Specifically, we will discuss the functional role of imitation, its multi-level nature, and its anomalous features in autism.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e387
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Becchio, C., Pierno, A., Mari, M., Lusher, D. & Castiello, U. (2007) Motor contagion from gaze: The case of autism. Brain: A Journal of Neurology 130(Pt 9):2401–11.Google Scholar
Casartelli, L. & Molteni, M. (2014) Where there is a goal, there is a way: What, why and how the parieto-frontal mirror network can mediate imitative behaviours. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 47:177–93.Google Scholar
Casartelli, L., Molteni, M. & Ronconi, L. (2016) So close yet so far: Motor anomalies impacting on social functioning in autism spectrum disorder. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 63:98–105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Iacoboni, M. (2009b) Neurobiology of imitation. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 19(6):661–65.Google Scholar
Kana, R. K., Wadsworth, H. M. & Travers, B. G. (2011) A systems level analysis of the mirror neuron hypothesis and imitation impairments in autism spectrum disorders. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 35(3):894–902.Google Scholar
Keven, N. & Akins, K. (2016) Neonatal imitation in context: Sensory-motor development in the perinatal period. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 1–107. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X16000911.Google Scholar
Meltzoff, A. N. & Decety, J. (2003) What imitation tells us about social cognition: A rapprochement between developmental psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 358(1431):491–500. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2002.1261.Google Scholar
Meltzoff, A. N. & Moore, M. K. (1977) Imitation of facial and manual gestures by human neonates. Science 198(4312):75–78. Available at: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/198/4312/75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oostenbroek, J., Suddendorf, T., Nielsen, M., Redshaw, J., Kennedy-Costantini, S., Davis, J., Clark, S. & Slaughter, V. (2016) Comprehensive longitudinal study challenges the existence of neonatal imitation in humans. Current Biology 26(10):1334–38. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.03.047.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parma, V., Bulgheroni, M., Tirindelli, R. & Castiello, U. (2013) Body odors promote automatic imitation in autism. Biological Psychiatry 74(3):220–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rizzolatti, G. & Sinigaglia, C. (2010) The functional role of the parieto-frontal mirror circuit: Interpretations and misinterpretations. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(4):264–74.Google Scholar
Ronconi, L., Molteni, M. & Casartelli, L. (2016) Building blocks of others' understanding: A perspective shift in investigating social-communicative deficit in autism. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 10:144.Google Scholar
Schaafsma, S. M., Pfaff, D. W., Spunt, R. P. & Adolphs, R. (2015) Deconstructing and reconstructing theory of mind. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 19(2):65–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simpson, E. A., Miller, G. M., Ferrari, P. F., Suomi, S. J. & Paukner, A. (2016) Neonatal imitation and early social experience predict gaze following abilities in infant monkeys. Scientific Reports 6:20233. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep20233.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simpson, E. A., Murray, L., Paukner, A. & Ferrari, P. F. (2014a) The mirror neuron system as revealed through neonatal imitation: Presence from birth, predictive power and evidence of plasticity. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 369(1644):20130289. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0289.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed