Two Essays by V.S. Ramachandran
Posted on January 17, 2006
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If the neorology of the human mind, and the means by which the human mind perceives itself and its body, is of any interest to you then you really ought to read “Phantoms in the Brain” by V.S. Ramachandran (I’ve written about this book before).
Today I stumbled across two essays by Ramachandran on Edge.org that are well worth reading:
- Mirror Neurons and the Brain in the Vat
- Mirror Neurons and imitation learning as the driving force behind “the great leap forward” in human evolution
You’ve probably astutely noticed that both articles deal with something called “mirror neurons”. In simple terms I can comprehend, mirror neurons are the brain cells that allow us to perceive the actions or emotions of another and relate them to ourselves. Simpler still: they allow us to learn by example, and to empathize.
Not one to mince words or hedge bets, Ramachandran describes their importance thusly:
This cluster of neurons, I argue, holds the key to understanding many enigmatic aspects of human evolution.
…
Thus I regard Rizzolati’s discovery [mirror neurons] — and my purely speculative conjectures on their key role in our evolution — as the most important unreported story of the last decade.
Fascinating stuff if your brain, like my brain, likes brains.
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