Reflections on mirror neurons and speech perception. Lotto, A. J, Hickok, G. S, & Holt, L. L Trends Cogn Sci, 13(3):110-4, 2009.
doi  abstract   bibtex   
The discovery of mirror neurons, a class of neurons that respond when a monkey performs an action and also when the monkey observes others producing the same action, has promoted a renaissance for the Motor Theory (MT) of speech perception. This is because mirror neurons seem to accomplish the same kind of one to one mapping between perception and action that MT theorizes to be the basis of human speech communication. However, this seeming correspondence is superficial, and there are theoretical and empirical reasons to temper enthusiasm about the explanatory role mirror neurons might have for speech perception. In fact, rather than providing support for MT, mirror neurons are actually inconsistent with the central tenets of MT.
@Article{Lotto2009,
  author   = {Andrew J Lotto and Gregory S Hickok and Lori L Holt},
  journal  = {Trends Cogn Sci},
  title    = {Reflections on mirror neurons and speech perception.},
  year     = {2009},
  number   = {3},
  pages    = {110-4},
  volume   = {13},
  abstract = {The discovery of mirror neurons, a class of neurons that respond when
	a monkey performs an action and also when the monkey observes others
	producing the same action, has promoted a renaissance for the Motor
	Theory (MT) of speech perception. This is because mirror neurons
	seem to accomplish the same kind of one to one mapping between perception
	and action that MT theorizes to be the basis of human speech communication.
	However, this seeming correspondence is superficial, and there are
	theoretical and empirical reasons to temper enthusiasm about the
	explanatory role mirror neurons might have for speech perception.
	In fact, rather than providing support for MT, mirror neurons are
	actually inconsistent with the central tenets of MT.},
  doi      = {10.1016/j.tics.2008.11.008},
  keywords = {Animals, Humans, Imitative Behavior, Motor Activity, Motor Cortex, Neurons, Psychomotor Performance, Reaction Time, Speech Perception, Visual Perception, 19223222},
}

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