Mirror neuron system (MNS) represents one of the most important discoveries of cognitive neuroscience in the past decade, and it has been found to involve in multiple aspects of brain functions including action understanding, imitation, language understanding, empathy, action prediction and speech evolution. This manuscript reviewed the function of MNS in action understanding as well as language evolution, and specifically assessed its roles as the bridge from body language to fluent speeches. Then we discussed the speech defects of autism patients due to the disruption of MNS. Finally, given that MNS is plastic in adult brain, we proposed MNS targeted therapy provides an efficient rehabilitation approach for brain damages conditions as well as autism patients.
镜像神经元是近年来认知神经科学领域最为重要的发现之一, 其功能涵盖了动作理解、 模仿学习、 语言理 解、 共情、 动作预测和语言的进化等多个领域。 本文归纳了镜像神经元系统在动作理解和语言交流中的作用, 进一步总结了进化过程中镜像神经元系统介入肢体语言到声音语言的可能性。 针对镜像神经元系统的可塑性, 我们讨论了通过调控镜像神经元系统的非侵入性治疗手段对自闭症以及外伤性神经损伤的实用性。