The DOI matches its Crossref record; 62 of the 63 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
A unifying view of the basis of social cognition
Abstract
In this article we provide a unifying neural hypothesis on how individuals understand the actions and emotions of others. Our main claim is that the fundamental mechanism at the basis of the experiential understanding of others' actions is the activation of the mirror neuron system. A similar mechanism, but involving the activation of viscero-motor centers, underlies the experiential understanding of the emotions of others.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“This is an implicit, automatic system, providing physical other to self and self to other mapping, which is involved in the immediate understanding (or misunderstanding) of self and others.”
From A developmental, mentalization-based approach to the understanding and treatment of borderline personality disorder (2009) · cites this paper as Gallese, Keysers, & Rizzolatti, 2004
In the citing paper
“This is thought to be one of the key evolutionary mechanisms underpinning social empathy: knowing from the inside how someone else feels.”
From A developmental, mentalization-based approach to the understanding and treatment of borderline personality disorder (2009) · cites this paper as Gallese, Keysers, & Rizzolatti, 2004
In the citing paper
“This suggests that a fundamental process that allows us to appreciate the actions and emotions of others involves the activation of the mirror neuron system for actions and the activation of visceromotor centers for the understanding of affect.”
From A developmental, mentalization-based approach to the understanding and treatment of borderline personality disorder (2009) · cites this paper as Gallese, Keysers, & Rizzolatti, 2004
In the citing paper
“The first system involves a more body-based, frontoparietal mirror neuron system that is involved in understanding the multimodal embodied self (e.g., face and body recognition) and understanding others through motor-simulation mechanisms”
From A developmental, mentalization-based approach to the understanding and treatment of borderline personality disorder (2009) · cites this paper as Gallese, Keysers, & Rizzolatti, 2004
In the citing paper
“Mirror neurons in the motor and associative cortex of humans and monkeys discharge not only when specific actions are executed, but also when these same actions are observed in other animals or humans [Gallese et al., 2004; Keysers and Perrett, 2004].”
From Social cognition and the brain: A meta-analysis (2009) · cites this paper as Gallese et al., 2004
In the citing paper
“On the other hand, an increasing number of authors suggest that the TPJ has specific social functions of its own, in particular for identifying the goals or intentions behind behaviors, together with the aid of ''mirror neurons'' [e.g., Gallese et al., 2004; Keysers and Gazzola, 2007; Saxe and Powell, 2006; Uddin et al., 2007].”
From Social cognition and the brain: A meta-analysis (2009) · cites this paper as Gallese et al., 2004
In the citing paper
“single-cell recording studies with monkeys and fMRI studies with humans has revealed that the mirror system consists of a cortical structure involving the superior temporal sulcus (STS), the inferior parietal lobe (IPL) or parietal mirror system, and the premotor cortex (PMC) including the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) or frontal mirror system [homologous to the F5 in monkeys; Gallese et al., 2004;”
From Social cognition and the brain: A meta-analysis (2009) · cites this paper as Gallese et al., 2004
In the citing paper
“Evidence now suggests that this bodily resonance (see Glossary) can afford us a unique, first-person understanding of the experiences of others and is central to a number of social processes [7] including intention understanding [19], empathy [20], and emotion recognition [21].”
From Changing bodies changes minds: Owning another body affects social cognition (2015) · cites this paper as [7]
In the citing paper
“The body is our interface with others (see e.g., Adolphs, 2009;Decety & Lamm, 2007;Gallese, Keysers, & Rizzolatti, 2004;Saxe, 2006), and therefore it is possible that social interactions shape the experience we have of our body (Ambrosini, Blomberg, Mandrigin, & Costantini, 2013;Cardellicchio, Sinigaglia, & Costantini, 2012;Cardini, Tajadura-Jimenez, Serino, & Tsakiris, 2012;Costantini, Ambrosini,”
From Bodily ownership and self-location: Components of bodily self-consciousness (2013) · cites this paper as Gallese et al., 2004
In the citing paper
“These results suggest that our ability to empathize relies on neuronal systems that underpin our own bodily and emotional states1,2,10,13.”
From Empathic neural responses are modulated by the perceived fairness of others (2006) · cites this paper as [2]
Citations
Cites
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1982) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203981139 · Cited by 11,945
Rizzolatti, G., & Craighero, L. (2004) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.27.070203.144230 · Cited by 7,433
Self-citationHow do you feel? Interoception: The sense of the physiological condition of the body
Craig, A. D. (2002) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn894 · Cited by 6,006
Action recognition in the premotor cortex
Gallese, V., Fadiga, L., Fogassi, L., & Rizzolatti, G. (1996) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/119.2.593 · Cited by 4,968
Premotor cortex and the recognition of motor actions
Rizzolatti, G., Fadiga, L., Gallese, V., & Fogassi, L. (1996) · Cognitive Brain Research · doi:10.1016/0926-6410(95)00038-0 · Cited by 4,870
Cummins, R., & Fodor, J. A. (1985) · The Philosophical Review · doi:10.2307/2184717 · Cited by 4,791
Empathy for Pain Involves the Affective but not Sensory Components of Pain
Singer, T., Seymour, B., O'Doherty, J., Kaube, H., Dolan, R. J., & Frith, C. D. (2004) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1093535 · Cited by 3,929
(1996) · Cited by 3,692
Neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the understanding and imitation of action
Rizzolatti, G., Fogassi, L., & Gallese, V. (2001) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/35090060 · Cited by 3,302
Mirror neurons and the simulation theory of mind-reading
Gallese, V (1998) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/s1364-6613(98)01262-5 · Cited by 3,201
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Barsalou, L. W. (2008) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093639 · Cited by 5,936
The New Synthesis in Moral Psychology
Haidt, J. (2007) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1137651 · Cited by 2,504
Social cognition and the brain: A meta-analysis
Van Overwalle, F. (2009) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.20547 · Cited by 1,792
The Social Brain: Neural Basis of Social Knowledge
Adolphs, R. (2009) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163514 · Cited by 1,827
Empathic neural responses are modulated by the perceived fairness of others
Singer, T., Seymour, B., O'Doherty, J. P., Stephan, K. E., Dolan, R. J., & Frith, C. D. (2006) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature04271 · Cited by 1,726
Metadata
- Authors
- GALLESE, V, KEYSERS, C., & RIZZOLATTI, G.
- Affiliations
- University of Parma (IT)
- Corresponding author
- RIZZOLATTI, G
- Venue
- Trends in Cognitive Sciences
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2004-09
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 396-403
- ISSN
- 1364-6613 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2025642716
- Cited by
- 2,236
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2026: 34 · 2025: 49 · 2024: 54 · 2023: 61 · 2022: 71 · 2021: 78 · 2020: 123 · 2019: 105 · 2018: 92 · 2017: 96 · 2016: 131 · 2015: 117 · 2014: 105 · 2013: 126 · 2012: 158
- FWCI
- 119.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Trends in Cognitive Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (publishedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- European Science Foundation
- Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
- Keywords
- social cognition, mirror neuron system, theory of mind, emotional understanding, action understanding, neural basis of social cognition, experiential understanding
- MeSH terms
- Affect, Amygdala, Animals, Haplorhini, Behavior, Animal, Brain, Cerebral Cortex, Cognition, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Neurons, Psychomotor Performance, Social Behavior, Social Perception
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
