Summary: A study shows that by the age of three, children can understand the intentions of others using active mirror neurons. This discovery highlights the early development of the “resonance” system, crucial for social cognition.
Researchers found that preschoolers’ mylohyoid muscles are activated when they anticipate goal-directed actions. These findings may help in the early diagnosis of conditions such as autism spectrum disorder.
Key facts:
- Early meaning: Three-year-olds use mirror neurons to understand the intentions of others.
- Muscle activation: The mylohyoid muscle is activated during the observation of goal-directed action.
- Diagnostic potential: It may help in the early detection of social cognition deficits in autism.
Source: Cattolica University
By the age of three, children are capable of understanding others, “mirroring” those they are with to imitate and predict their intentions. They are able to do this thanks to the sophisticated neurofunctional architecture that is necessary to understand the intentions of others, the mirror neurons, which are already active at this age.
It is the result of a study published in the prestigious journal PNASled by the collaboration between Giacomo Rizzolatti of the University of Parma, the scientist who discovered mirror neurons, and the research group composed of Cinzia Di Dio, Laura Miraglia, Giulia Peretti and coordinated by Antonella Marchetti, Director of the Department of Psychology at the Università Cattolica, Campus of Milan.
“This is a very important discovery,” explains Professor Marchetti, “as it shows that even at such a young age, children are equipped with the ‘resonance’ system made up of mirror neurons, which are the building blocks upon which a more complex and articulated understanding of the social world will be built with development and experience.”
Although preschoolers are capable of planning goal-directed motor action sequences, their understanding of the goals of others involved in motor tasks has not been fully investigated until now.
The group from Università Cattolica, together with Professor Rizzolatti, measured the ability of preschool children to organize a sequence of motor actions by understanding the purpose behind the chain of actions of another individual.
To verify this ability, the researchers measured the activation of the mylohyoid muscle, involved in opening the mouth, while the children grabbed a piece of food to eat or a piece of paper to place in a container.
During food intake, mylohyoid muscle activation began several milliseconds before the action ended. The muscle was not activated when grasping the letter, suggesting a planned sequence of motor events focused on the goal of the action.
Even when the children observed an experimenter performing the same grasping tasks, the mylohyoid muscle was activated while observing the eating task.
However, as Professor Marchetti explains, “we found that muscle activation occurs more slowly compared to older children, aged 6-9 years (examined in previous studies), who are supported by the emergence of more sophisticated processes cognitive”.
According to the authors, the results suggest that understanding the motor intentions of others is a developing skill in preschool children.
“In conclusion,” Professor Marchetti points out, “the current data provide further support for evidence regarding the different stages of child development in this area, consistent with research on infants showing early adaptation to motor acts directed by purpose.
In general, these results are also important from the point of view of early diagnosis, for example, in the case of children with autism spectrum disorders, since they would make it possible to apply a psychophysical instrumental assessment of an eventual deficit in understanding purposes and a potential harm. basic precursors for the development of social skills”, she concludes.
About this neurodevelopmental research news
Author: Nicola Cerbino
Source: Cattolica University
Contact: Nicola Cerbino – Cattolica University
Image: Image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original research: Closed access.
“Action chains and goal understanding in 3- to 6-year-old children” by Giacomo Rizzolatti et al. PNAS
ABSTRACT
Action chains and goal understanding in 3- to 6-year-old children
In intentional behavior, the ultimate goal of an action is crucial in determining the entire sequence of motor acts. Neurons have been described in the inferior parietal lobule of monkeys that, in addition to encoding a specific motor act (eg, grasping), have their discharge modulated by the ultimate goal of the intended action (eg, grasping to eat). .
Many of these “action-limited” neurons have mirror properties that respond to the observation of the motor act they encode, provided that it is involved in a specific action.
Thanks to this mechanism, observers have an internal copy of the entire action before its execution and can thus understand the agent’s intent. Chain organization of motor acts has been demonstrated in school students.
Here, we examined whether this organization is already present in very young children. For this purpose, we recorded EMG from the mylohyoid (MH) muscle in children aged 3 to 6 years. The results showed that preschoolers, like older children, master the chain organization of motor acts in execution.
Interestingly, compared to older children, they have a delayed ability to use this mechanism to infer the intentions of others through observation.
Finally, we found a significant negative relationship between children’s age and MH muscle activation during the grasp-to-eat phase in the observation condition. We, tentatively, interpreted it as a sign of an immature control of motor acts.