Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Is it possible that imitation is also the pathway to learning? In the late 1990s and early 2000s, scientists at the University of Parma published a series of studies singling out neurons that respond both when accomplishing a certain action and also when observing others accomplishing a certain action. We might call this colloquially the “monkey see, monkey do” paradigm, perhaps all the more appropriate as the initial studies were done on monkeys. In 2010, a study took mirror neurons to the next level by identifying mirror neurons in humans. Scientists were able
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