Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS

‘Mirror neurons’ fire up during mouse battles

Brain cells are crucial for triggering fights — but also become active when mice merely observe fights.
  1. Max Kozlov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

A group of brain cells in mice becomes active both when the animals fight and when they watch other mice fight, a study1 shows. The work hints that such ‘mirror neurons’, which fire when an animal either observes or takes part in a particular activity, could shape complex social behaviours, such as aggression.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 614, 605 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00418-1

References

  1. Yang, T. et al. Cell https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2023.01.022 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Yang, T. et al. Neuron 95, 955–970 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links