the concept of theory of mind (tom) refers to the ability to predict and explain feelings, thoughts, ideas and intentions of self and others. patients with autism spectrum disorders (asd) show a deficient development of theory of mind. specifically, individuals with autism spectrum disorders fail to understand not only that others have minds, but also that other minds have different thoughts, a...

A category of stimuli of great importance for primates, humans in particular, is that formed by actions done by other individuals. If we want to survive, we must understand the actions of others. Furthermore, without action understanding, social organization is impossible. In the case of humans, there is another faculty that depends on the observation of others' actions: imitation learning. Unl...

M irror neurons are a class of neurons, originally discovered in the premotor cortex of monkeys, that discharge both when individuals perform a given motor act and when they observe others perform that same motor act. Ample evidence demonstrates the existence of a cortical network with the properties of mirror neurons (mirror system) in humans. The human mirror system is involved in understandi...

Common coding is a functional principle that underlies the mirror neuron paradigm. It insures actual parity between perception and action, since the perceived and performed actions are equivalently and simultaneously represented within the mirror neuron system. Based on the parity of this representation we show how the mirror neuron system may facilitate the interaction between two robots. Sync...