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 muscle activates when they anticipate goal-directed actions. These findings could aid early diagnosis of conditions such as autism spectrum disorder.
Key facts:
- Early Understanding: Three-year-olds use mirror neurons to grasp the intentions of others.
- Muscle activation: The mylohyoid muscle is activated when a targeted action is observed.
- Diagnostic potential: It could help in the early detection of social cognition deficits in autism.
Source: Cattolica University
By the age of three, children are able to understand others, “mirror” those they are with to imitate and anticipate their intentions. They can do this thanks to the sophisticated neurofunctional architecture necessary to understand the intentions of others, mirror neurons, which are already active at this age.
This follows from a study published in a prestigious journal PNASled by a collaboration between Giacomo Rizzolatti of the University of Parma, the scientist who discovered mirror neurons, and a 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, Milan Campus.
“This is a very important discovery,” explains Professor Marchetti, “because it shows that even at such a young age, children are equipped with a ‘resonance’ system made up of mirror neurons, which are the building blocks on which a more complex and articulate understanding of the social world will be built with development and experience.’
Although preschoolers are able to plan goal-directed motor actions, their understanding of the intentions of others engaged in motor tasks has not yet been thoroughly investigated.
A group from the Università Cattolica, together with Professor Rizzolatti, measured the ability of preschool children to organize a sequence of motor actions based on understanding the intention behind another individual’s chain of actions.
To test this ability, the researchers measured the activation of the mylohyoid muscle, which is involved in opening the mouth, while the children grabbed a piece of food to eat or a piece of paper that they placed in a container.
When grasping food, activation of the mylohyoid muscle began several milliseconds before the action was completed. The muscle did not activate when grasping the paper, suggesting a planned sequence of motor events directed at the goal of the action.
Even when the children observed the experimenter performing the same grasping tasks, the mylohyoid muscle was activated during observation while eating.
However, as Professor Marchetti explains, “we found that muscle activation occurs more slowly compared to older children aged 6-9 (investigated in previous studies), who are supported by the emergence of more sophisticated cognitive processes.
According to the authors, the results suggest that understanding the motor intentions of others is a developing ability in preschoolers.
“In conclusion,” emphasizes Professor Marchetti, “the current data provide further support for the evidence regarding the different stages of child development in this area, following on from research on infants who show early attunement to goal-directed motor acts.
Overall, these results are also relevant from the point of view of early diagnosis, for example, in children with autism spectrum disorders, as they would allow the implementation of a psychophysical instrumental assessment of a possible deficit in understanding intentions and possible disorders of basic precursors for the development of social skills,” he concludes.
About this news from neurodevelopmental research
Author: Nicola Cerbino
Source: Cattolica University
Contact: Nicola Cerbino – Universita Cattolica
Picture: Image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Closed access.
“Action Chains and Intentional Comprehension in 3- to 6-Year-Old Children” by Giacomo Rizzolatti et al. PNAS
Abstract
Action chains and intention understanding in 3- to 6-year-old children
In intentional behavior, the final goal of the action is decisive for determining the entire sequence of motor acts. Neurons have been described in the inferior parietal lobe 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 responding to the observation of the motor act they encode, provided it is embedded in a specific action.
Thanks to this mechanism, observers have an internal copy of the entire action before it is executed, and thus can understand the agent’s intent. Chained organization of motor actions has been demonstrated in schoolchildren.
Here we investigated whether this organization is already present in very young children. For this purpose, we recorded EMG from the mylohyoid muscle (MH) in children aged 3 to 6 years. The results showed that preschoolers, like older children, have a chained organization of motor actions during execution.
Interestingly, compared to older children, they have a delayed ability to use this mechanism to infer the intentions of others through observation.
Finally, in the observation condition, we found a significant negative association between children’s age and MH muscle activation during the food grasp phase. We tentatively interpreted this as a sign of immature control of motor acts.