Michael Arbib was a pioneer in the interdisciplinary study of computers and brains, and has long studied brain mechanisms underlying the visual control of action. For more than a decade he has devoted much energy to understanding the relevance of this work, and especially of mirror neurons, to the evolution of the language-ready brain.
Part I. Setting the Stage
1. Underneath the Lampposts
2. Perspectives on Human Languages
3. Vocalization and Gesture in Monkey and Ape
4. Human Brain, Monkey Brain, and Praxis
5. Mirror Neurons and Mirror Systems
Part II. Developing the Hypothesis
6. Signposts: The Argument of the Book Revealed
7. Simple and Complex Imitation
8. Via Pantomime to Protosign
9. Protosign and Protospeech: An Expanding Spiral
10. How Languages Got Started
11. How the Child Acquires Language
12. How Languages Emerge
13. How Languages Keep Changing