Review Significant Mirrorings in the Process of Teaching and Learning

The goal of the present paper is to propose a hypothesis of explanatory model of the processes of learning and education based on recent neuroscientific studies. We refer in particular to the researches developed around the properties of the system of mirror neurons. This idea was born from the belief that it is possible to transfer the results obtained from fMRI studies, relating to extremely simple motor and communicative actions, to the study of more complex actions such as those that occur in educational settings. The hypothesis is that, even in learning situations, it is exactly the possibility to automatically capture the concatenation of the intentional relation (mapped from mirrors) to initiate the understanding of the stimulus-situation (both in oral and written form). It is assumed that the level of comprehension depends on the level of intentional attunement that is created between internalized sensorimotor schemas and patterns perceived in the stimulus-situation, then by the involvement of a neurocognitive mechanism like the metaphor. To support this hypothesis, the contribution will initially present a concise summary of the neuroscientific results that have led to the current conception of cognitive functioning and to the paradigm change concerning the nature of knowledge. Finally, an idea of teaching/learning based on the concept of significant mirroring (SM) and some indications in order to foster it will be proposed