MIRROR NEURONS, MEANING AND IMITATION: FACTS AND SPECULATIONS ON LANGUAGE ACQUISITION.

Abstract

Recently discovered mirror neurons systems play a major explanatory role in
the understanding of human features like imitation, empathy and also language
learning. This neural system is at the basis of social, interpersonal and affiliative
behaviour. Mirror brain cells circuits are active during imitation activities and may
contribute to the ability of learning a language. This article addresses some
theoretical implications of the discovery of mirror neurons and will try to evaluate to
what extent it can provide a new empirical ground for research in foreign language
acquisition.