The discovery of mirror neurons in the frontal lobes of macaques and their implications for human behaviour has been heralded as one of the most important findings in neuroscience in the last decade. With the maelstrom of attention in scientific culture, quickly came rampant speculation that mirror neurons may provide the key to understanding an array of human behaviours. Current theories suggest the ability to interpret the actions and gestures of others is subserved by a mirror neuron system, a network that possesses the unique property of responding to specific actions both when they are executed and observed. Evolution of the mirror neuron system has been viewed as an adaptation for action understanding, where meaning about a movement can be attributed to actions made by others, and enables an observer to understand the intent behind an observed motor act of someone else. From tool use, and language acquisition to empathy and altruism, mirror neurons became a significant area of interest, despite the fact that no direct empirical evidence exists for their presence in humans.

Initially discovered by Rizzolatti and colleagues using single-cell recordings in the macaque monkey, the mellifluous term mirror neuron was coined to reflect the fact that these neurons fire during task performance, and also during passive observance of the same action performed by another agent, thus mirroring the neurological activity occurring in the other agent’s brain. Difficulties arise with conflicting assumptions of the definition of this system, leading to different experimental approaches and interpretations. An unambiguous definition of mirror neurons is necessary to streamline the research and narrow a more careful focus on what mirror neurons are and what they mean. The prospect of a single population of neurons playing an active role in a wide range of executive functions is alluring, albeit slightly optimistic. It will be interesting however, to see what designs are applied to mirror neuron research in the future (even if its bullshit).