Abstract
At first glance, psychology and physics seem to have nothing in common. However, in both disciplines, sections are dealing with the study of one of the most complex objects in the universe: the human brain. Within psychology, neuropsychologists and neuroscientists “watch the brain at work” by measuring electrical and magnetic signals while participants perform tasks. Physics comprises the section of biophysics and is involved in the interdisciplinary field of computational neuroscience, in which the complex processes in the brain are represented with mathematical models. Furthermore, both disciplines focus on quantitative measurements and presenting their results in form of numbers.
The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). The authors have subsequently revised the text further in an endeavour to refine the work stylistically and in terms of content.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Gallese, V., & Goldman, A. (1998). Mirror neurons and the simulation theory of mind-reading. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2(12), pp. 493–501.
- 2.
Carr, L., Iacoboni, M., Dubeau, M. C., Mazziotta, J. C., & Lenzi, G. L. (2003). Neural mechanisms of empathy in humans: a relay from neural systems for imitation to limbic areas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 100(9), pp. 5497–5502.
- 3.
Rizzolatti, G., & Craighero, L. (2004). The mirror-neuron system. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 27, pp. 169–192.
- 4.
It should be noted that fMRI is based on the detection of changes in oxygenation in active brain areas and quantified via the so-called Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) signal. This BOLD signal is triggered by neuronal activity, but activity but does not allow any further inference about the underlying firing rate of the neurons.
- 5.
For the definition of the term pattern in psychology we would like to refer to the chapter Becker & Schweiker.
- 6.
However, this only applies as a limiting case for comparatively small mass densities and velocities. With increasingly precise measurements, small deviations from Newton’s law of gravity emerged, which could only be fully explained with the help of a new theory, Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
- 7.
Cavendish, H. (1798). Experiments to determine the density of the Earth. By Henry Cavendish, Esq. FRS and AS. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 88, pp. 469–526.
- 8.
Speake, C., & Quinn, T. (2014). Newton’s constant. Physics Today, 67(7), p. 27.
- 9.
Dayan, P., & Abbott, L. F. (2001). Theoretical neuroscience (Vol. 10). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- 10.
Burkitt, A. N. (2006). A review of the integrate-and-fire neuron model: I. Homogeneous synaptic input. Biological Cybernetics, 95(1), pp. 1–19.
- 11.
Thill, S., Caligiore, D., Borghi, A. M., Ziemke, T., & Baldassarre, G. (2013). Theories and computational models of affordance and mirror systems: an integrative review. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 37(3), pp. 491–521.
- 12.
Reichenbach, H. (2013). Philosophische Grundlagen der Quantenmechanik. Berlin: SpringerVerlag.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mier, D.U., Hass, J. (2023). Psychology and Physics: A Non-invasive Approach to the Functioning of the Human Mirror Neuron System. In: Schweiker, M., Hass, J., Novokhatko, A., Halbleib, R. (eds) Measurement and Understanding in Science and Humanities. Palgrave Macmillan, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-36974-3_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-36974-3_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Wiesbaden
Print ISBN: 978-3-658-36973-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-658-36974-3
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)