La ricerca di un modello neurofisiologico per il rispecchiamento con l’altro: la polarità del Mirror Neuron System e il caso dell’autismo

Mirror neurons and mirror neuron system (MNS) researches have had a great diffusion in the last years also in a trans-disciplinary direction (e.g. Rizzolatti & Sinigaglia, 2006). After taking into account the analysis of the metaphor of the mirror the article underlines the relevancy of some ambiguity factors intrinsic in the process of understanding other’s actions and behavior; and we found that these factors have not been considered by the MNS theory. Such reflections seem near to what has been enlightened by the recent discussion about the application of MNS theory to understand the behavioral symptoms in autism. The critics that we have underlined point out the fact that before reducing to unitary description autism disorders it is opportune to proceed trough a development of MNS theory in its complexity.