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Processes of Believing: The Acquisition, Maintenance, and Change in Creditions pp 97–109Cite as

New Concepts on the Motor System: Implications for Emotions and Credition

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Part of the book series: New Approaches to the Scientific Study of Religion ((NASR,volume 1))

Abstract

Experimental studies carried out over the last two decades have radically changed our conception of the brain motor system. The discovery of mirror neurons in the monkey brain and the evidence in the human brain of a mirror mechanism, whose neural substrate most likely relies on mirror neurons, support the notion that the role of the motor system is not limited to the execution of actions, but also includes the ability to understand action and to code the intentions behind others’ actions. This experimental evidence extends the role of the motor system to cover functions traditionally considered as cognitive. The mirror mechanism first described for mirror neurons seems to be a more general functional mechanism in the brain, extending also to emotions and sensations; the neural substrates active when we feel certain emotions and sensations are also active when we observe other people feeling those same emotions or sensations. Thus, these mechanisms may turn out to constitute a biologically grounded link between ourselves and other individuals. After reviewing the main data and theories about the mirror mechanisms for actions and emotions, this paper outlines how these mechanisms may be relevant for self-related processes, especially insofar as these processes are engaged in social interactions. From this, links with the relevance of credition theory are proposed. In particular, assuming that beliefs are at the root of action choice and selection of appropriate behaviours in social contexts, the theory of credition may provide a conceptual framework helpful in integrating the “simulation theory” and the “theory-theory” approaches to mentalizing, also suggesting how explicit mentalizing processes may actually be grounded in more implicit mirror mechanisms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Università degli Studi Magna Graecia di Catanzaro, Viale Salvatore Venuta - Loc. Germaneto, 88100, Catanzaro, Italy

    Giovanni Buccino

  2. Pontifical University Antonianum, Rome, Italy

    Ivan Colagè

Authors
  1. Giovanni Buccino
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  2. Ivan Colagè
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giovanni Buccino .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Catechetics and Religious Education, Karl-Franzens University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    Hans-Ferdinand Angel

  2. Pontifical University Antonianum, Rome, Italy

    Lluis Oviedo

  3. Department of Psychology, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California, USA

    Raymond F. Paloutzian

  4. Department of Theology, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden

    Anne L.C. Runehov

  5. Department of Neurology, Centre for Neurology and Neuropsychiatry, LVR-Klinikum Düsseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Rüdiger J. Seitz

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Buccino, G., Colagè, I. (2017). New Concepts on the Motor System: Implications for Emotions and Credition. In: Angel, HF., Oviedo, L., Paloutzian, R., Runehov, A., Seitz, R. (eds) Processes of Believing: The Acquisition, Maintenance, and Change in Creditions. New Approaches to the Scientific Study of Religion , vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50924-2_7

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