These findings may suggest a universal and fundamental link between the ability to replicate the actions of other (imitation) and the capacity to represent and match others' actions (mirroring).
Others that man's mastery of language or his capacity for imitation and social learning hold the key.
An interesting example from recent research is the suggestion that sensorimotor experience plays a role in the development of the capacity for imitation in the human brain (Catmur, Walsh, & Heyes 2009).
Sometimes imitation depends on content.
Boyd and Richerson (1996) argued that the capacity for observational learning (imitation) is a prerequisite for culture to become cumulative.
The religious approach to ancient heritage leads the Ikhwân to consider philosophy as an "imitation of God according to human capacity".
In Anchors Aweigh, when he instructs the cartoon Jerry Mouse how to dance and gives up being a grouch, the movie taps into childlikeness, the capacity to achieve unselfconsciousness through playful imitation.
Finally, we would have found the missing link of monkey social cognition, specifically between their possession of mirror neurons [16] and some recently proved capacities in the periphery of true imitation.
