Broken Mirror: The Mirror Neuron System and the Salience Landscape Dysfunction
Pamela H. Crittenden
University of Maryland University College

The Mirror Neuron System and the Salience Landscape Dysfunction This paper will summarized and critique the important points discussed by Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and Lindsay M. Oberman in the article “The Theory of Autism”. Support and expansion of the ideas presented will be discussed. Several points in the article will be evaluated. Two theories that were prevalent during their studies to help explain and or determine the cause of Autism were the Mirror Neuron Dysfunctions and Disrupted Salience Landscape Theory. To begin it is important to define what is meant by Autism. It is a genetic disorder that plagues a small portion of Americans. Children diagnosed with Autism are unable to carry on normal conversations and tend to remove themselves from any chance of social contact. Although they may experience different types of emotions such as fear and pleasure they also experience poor language, lack of eye contact and social isolation. As stated by the author (Ramachandran and Oberman, 2006) Patricia M. Rodier believes that “susceptibility to autism is inherited” and her theory is based on a “newly discovered class of nerve cells in the brain called Mirror Neurons” (Ramachandran and Oberman, 2006, p.64). These nerve cells take on the same characteristics of an Autistic patient. According to Eric Courchsne he proposes that autism may be organized into categories: Anatomical and Psychological. Anatomical studies determine that autistic patients have abnormalities in their cerebellum; which are responsible for voluntary muscle movements. From the article it is clear that these abnormalities are not the sole cause of the disease; in fact it could be an abnormal gene (Ramachandran and Oberman, 2006, p.64). While Psychological studies support that autistic patients lack the ability to create or imagine what others might be thinking. They are unable to fathom another person’s behavior. Researchers must then come up with the root cause that explains what areas of the brain are not functioning correctly in autistic patients and why. The biggest problem for the scientist at this time is to pin point the part of the brain which functionally matches those that are disrupted with autism. During the 1990 Giacomo Rizzalatti studied neural activity in monkeys. He discovered a subset of the “motor command neuron also fired when the monkey watched another monkey or a researcher perform the same action” (Ramachandran and Oberman, 2006, p. 64). The experiment also supports humans mirror neurons transmitted messages, and were also able to predict what the person was contemplating. They also realized that neurons could be found in other sections of the brain and had a part when it came to humans natural reaction. It was determined that when neurons reacted because of pain, the same happen when you observed a person experiencing the pain. So in essence autistic people are unable to repeat what it’s that someone is doing, this in fact is because they show a drastic reduction in mirror neuron activity in the pre motor cortex (Ramachandran and Oberman, 2006, p. 65). During the late 1990s researchers conducted a study in the effort to demonstrate mirror neurons dysfunctions in children whit Autism. They conducted the study using an electroencephalogram (EEG) which measures mu waves. They discovered that when autistic people performed a simple voluntary movement the mu waves were suppressed just as a normal person. But, when they watched someone else perform the action the suppression did not occur. These experiments were accomplished several time using different techniques one such technique was Magnetoencephalagraphy which “measures the magnetic fields produced by electronic currents in the brain” (Ramachandran and Oberman, 2006, p. 67). Another process was the use of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. This stimulation induces electric currents in the motor cortex to generate muscle movement. All research came to came the same conclusion, scientists are no closer to determining what factors may have caused or modified the tasks of the mirror neurons. Another one of science biggest challenge will be to discover if the mirror neurons deficiencies can be repaired. They are considering correcting the chemical in balances that disable the mirror neurons, but it may very well only solve a portion of the problem. The other parts of the puzzle are the other symptoms of autism that cannot be explained by the mirror neurons. Thus, the Salience Landscape Theory was developed to find the underlined cause of the other symptoms. The Salience Landscape Theory is the reaction the body has predetermined because of previous experiences in your life and then scrambles connections between the Limbic system and the brain. The theory was somewhat supported when as an experiment was conducted to calculate the rise in the skin conductance triggered by perspiration. They discovered that autistic children experience epilepsy seizures in early stages of life and many of these seizures went unnoticed. What’s so surprising is that these seizures may have been influence by genetic and or environmental factors not yet discovered. The theories presented in the article may have supported the same problem that plagues the Dysfunction Salience Landscape may also damage the Mirror Neurons. Extensive research is still required before an official conclusion can be reached. I believe the samples used by the scientist did not reflect the entire population. For the first experiment they used the macaque monkey; although a great start, scientist have proven that the chimpanzee is closer in brain structure to humans than monkey. Additionally, they selected high-functioning individuals with autism. My belief is that by using this selective group you would have defaulted on your experiment. These selections of children already show some type of understanding within their surroundings. It might be from little social contacts, to parental coaching. Once again they used the same selective process to further their studies. Finally, they began to experiment with different techniques such as the electroencephalogram (EEG) which measures mu waves, the magnetoencephalography measuring the magnetic fields, and the transcranial stimulation which uses electric currents. I believe that the scientists are on the correct path to discovering the cause of Autism, but they will need to alter their selection techniques when it comes to sampling the population. Their samples should include a larger group of the population in sense of numbers. They are millions of Americans who suffer from autism and a small sample of 10 doesn’t begin to scratch the surface. Other things they may want to consider during selection process are gender, age group, and the ethic back ground of the individual. This might open up a path not yet explored and can help explain or pin point the underlined problem that causes Autism in humans.