The dysfunction of may be related to the development of disorders involving theory of the mind as well as autism.

mirror neurons

Explanation:

Mirror neurons are a group of cells that were discovered by the team of neurobiologist Giacomo Rizzolatti and that seem to be related to empathic, social and imitative behaviors. They were discovered while trying to study the neurons responsible for hand movements in monkeys. To the surprise of the researchers, these neurons not only showed activity when the ape made some concrete movement with their hands, they were also activated when the monkey in question saw another member of its species perform that same gesture - as if he himself was taking him to cape-.

The mission of these cells is to reflect the activity we are observing. They are activated when we execute a certain action, and also when we observe another individual performing that same action. They allow "reflect" the action of another in our own brain, hence its name. As we have already mentioned, they were first observed in primates, and then discovered in humans and some birds. In humans they are found in the Broca area and in the parietal cortex.

These neurons can also tell us many things about mental disorders or about autism. Human interactions are very important, what happens, then, with those who cannot interact with others? If the fact that I look at you and imitate you facilitates interactions in a natural way, perhaps those who have problems with the activation of mirror neurons have problems with the interaction. In autism patients there is reduced activity of mirror neurons. The good thing is that an intervention can be done. That is, you could precisely train these mirror neurons to get more autistic training.