- Social cognition may be damaged when the brain is damaged:
└–>Anosognosia- Person is unaware of their mental impairment.
- Frontal lobe damage can cause change in personality.
The Mirror Neuron System
- Mirror neurones are fired when an action is completed and the same neurones are fired when the person witnesses someone doing the same thing i.e. being a musician and playing music and listening to music.
- If a non musician plays music and then listens to it, the activity is generated in different areas. This is not the case for musicians.
- ToM influenced by mirror neurones. Allow us to take someone else’s perspective because we can imagine what they are feeling.
└–> AO2- Regardless of the fact that we have mirror neurones doesn’t mean that we will be able to use ToM.
- AO2-> Many aspects influence the way we perceive emotions.
- Moral Understanding-> shows that the moral understanding is part innate as it shows our ability to empathise
└–> doesn’t mean that moral behaviour will become developed though.
- fMRI after watching a clip of someone turning their nose up at awful food showed the same activity as when the person smelt something horrible.
- Mirror neurones are not active when watching someone of a different culture do something-> ethnicity and biology not related.
- Oversimplification of the biological aspect. Imitation can be due to other things; temperament, attachment, mood, etc.
- Stronger in monkeys. Performing a particular action and watching another monkey do a similar thing led to the same mirror neurones being fired.
- Mirror neurone system in autistic children is impaired. Less activity when they watched facial expressions and were asked to demonstrate, than normal children.
└–>doesn’t prove that the autism is to blame for this.