Mirror Neurons in Psychiatric Disorders: from Neuroception to Bio-behavioral System Dysregulation

Impairments in mind-reading abilities (ie, mentalization, empathy) represent core psychopathological features and key therapeutic targets in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) (Ciaramidaro et al, 2015). A functional mirror neuron system (MNS) is considered a prerequisite of these abilities (see Dinstein et al, 2010 for alternative views)