The ontological priority of representations: The case of mirror neurons and language

Iacoboni, Marco

doi:10.1075/ld.1.1.03iac

Article published In: Language and Dialogue
Vol. 1:1 (2011) ► pp.7–20

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The ontological priority of representations

The case of mirror neurons and language

Marco Iacoboni | David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Published online: 27 May 2011

https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.1.1.03iac

This paper reviews empirical data from monkey neurophysiology and human brain imaging regarding mirror neurons and language. These data are interpreted as suggesting that some of our cognitive intuitions about language and representations may be misleading. For centuries, representations have been conceptualized as secondary, both temporally and spatially, to a primary entity. What if representations have ontological priority? Can we even conceive this idea?

Keywords: ontological priority, mirror neurons, language and representations, monkey neurophysiology, human brain imaging

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Cited by one other publication

Wallace, Cynthia R.

2019. Attention, Representation, and Unsettlement in Katherena Vermette’s The Break, or, Teaching and (Re)Learning the Ethics of Reading. Humanities 8:4 ► pp. 164 ff.

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