中文摘要：

自闭症患者在社会沟通和交往障碍上主要涉及社会情感互动缺陷、非语言行为交流缺陷、发展维持和理解人际关系的缺陷。该群体在社会认知过程中潜在自动的直觉成分受损被视为其独特的临床症状。鉴于镜像神经元系统在社会认知的直觉成分上扮演的重要角色,该系统的功能障碍假说（或称“碎镜”理论）被提出并用以解释自闭症的成因及其异常表现。然而,在经历了10年的发展与证据检验后,该理论潜在的问题逐渐暴露。当前的研究显示,迄今为止人类镜像神经元系统的研究存在内在缺陷,镜像神经元系统至多是社会认知的附带原因,该系统功能障碍也并非自闭症患者社会认知障碍的必要条件。碎镜理论面临来自临床行为研究与认知神经科学实验证据的广泛质疑。未来,伴随自闭症研究对象的变化,镜像神经元的社会响应学说的提出,双个体范式、第二人称神经科学范式与计算精神病学的兴起,镜像神经元与自闭症的真正关系将有望得以阐明。

英文摘要：

Autism are characterized by difficulties in reciprocal social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication, and repetitive activities and narrow interests. A core diagnostic criterion of autism is abnormal implicit social cognition. Based on the assumption that mirror neuron system is the unified neural basis of implicit social processes, the ＂broken mirror＂ theory attributes most social deficits in autism to impairments in mirror neuron system, leading to the issues with social skills, imitation, empathy, and theory of mind seen in people with autism. However, after a decade of extensive examination and verification, this theory has been facing increasing challenges from behavioral, neuroscientific and clinical research. This paper outlines literatures examining the unified role of mirror neuron system for implicit social cognition, and systematically review studies testing a global dysfunction of the mirror system in autism. We conclude that mirror neuron system plays a sufficient but not necessary role for implicit social cognition and very few evidence supports that an all-or-nothing problem with the mirror neuron system can underlie autism. The implications and future research directions are also discussed.