Episode 20: Mirror Neurons and Language: An Interview with Gregory Hickok

Thinking Tools Podcast Episode 20 - ❓ Have you heard of mirror neurons? ❓ Mirror neurons are a special type of brain cell that were once thought to explain the brain basis of language and that of our understanding of the actions of other people, or “action understanding.” However, between the late 1990s and early 2010s, neuroscientist Gregory Hickok crafted a devastating argument against these claims, culminating in his 2014 book “The Myth of Mirror Neurons: The Real Neuroscience of Communication and Cognition.” (WW. Norton and Co.) His critiques contributed to a lively debate on the topic of mirror neurons, language, and action understanding. So what are mirror neurons? In this episode of the Thinking Tools Podcast, I speak with Dr. Gregory Hickok about his book as well as a sophisticated dual stream model of speech and language processing in the brain, which he created with neuroscientist David Poeppel. Dr. Hickok’s research focuses on the neurobiology of language, speech, and hearing with application to understanding the nature of acquired language disorders (aphasia). He has published over 190 scientific papers and book chapters and edited several book volumes on the neurobiology of language and hearing. His research uses a multi-method approach including functional MRI, electrocorticography, neuropsychology, and computational modeling, and has been funded by the National Institutes of Health for the last three decades. Dr. Hickok was the inaugural Chair of the Society for the Neurobiology, founding director of UC Irvine’s Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and Center for Language Science, and Editor-in-Chief of Psychonomic Bulletin & Review from 2014-2019. Dr. Hickok received his Ph.D. in Psychology and Linguistics at Brandeis University in 1991 and did postdoctoral training in Cognitive Neuroscience at MIT and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.  He joined the faculty at UC Irvine in 1996 where he is currently Professor of Cognitive Sciences and Language Science. -- With this newsletter, I want to connect with you and give you exclusive content that I think will be beneficial or interesting. Every one of them will contain the following five items: 1. A fascinating fact about the human brain 2. Science-based productivity and happiness tips 3. My thoughts about life, culture, or current events 4. A book recommendation 5. A thought-provoking quote -- Connect, Follow and Subscribe! Sign up for the video version: https://mailchi.mp/d76edf98390b/sense-of-mind-newsletter-sign-up-page Link to all of our video newsletters: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC92ipyM9i9L_9yna8Jn6eM5RSQmNbSJj Subscribe to the Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC610T-s8gpOVDtAVXTZ35FQ Website: www.Senseofmindshow.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sense.ofmind/ Linktree: https://linktr.ee/senseofmind By the way, the newsletter is 100% free, it has zero ads, and I will NEVER sell or give your information to third parties. Please follow, share and subscribe if you found this helpful, thanks for listening! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/senseofmind/support