{ "id": "epze1srne7", "slug": "giacomo-rizzolatti", "title": "Giacomo Rizzolatti", "updated": "2026-10-15", "topic_path": [ { "id": "life", "label": "Life and health", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/life" }, { "id": "life.scientists", "label": "Life and health scientists", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/life.scientists" }, { "id": "life.scientists.medicine-health", "label": "Medical and health researchers", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/life.scientists.medicine-health" }, { "id": "life.scientists.medicine-health.med-neuro", "label": "Researchers in clinical neuroscience, neurology, and psychiatry research", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/life.scientists.medicine-health.med-neuro" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.life.scientists.medicine-health.med-neuro", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000: Researchers in clinical neuroscience, neurology, and psychiatry research", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.life.scientists.medicine-health.med-neuro", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.life", "label": "Life and health", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.life" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.life.scientists", "label": "Life and health scientists", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.life.scientists" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.life.scientists.medicine-health", "label": "Medical and health researchers", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.life.scientists.medicine-health" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.life.scientists.medicine-health.med-neuro", "label": "Researchers in clinical neuroscience, neurology, and psychiatry research", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.life.scientists.medicine-health.med-neuro" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Giacomo Rizzolatti is an Italian neuroscientist, emeritus professor of Human Physiology at the University of Parma, known for discovering mirror neurons and winning the 2025 International Prize for Biology.", "snippet": "Giacomo Rizzolatti is an Italian neuroscientist, emeritus professor of Human Physiology at the University of Parma, known for discovering mirror neurons and winning the 2025 International Prize for Biology.", "node": "life.scientists.medicine-health.med-neuro", "markdown": "# Giacomo Rizzolatti\n\nGiacomo Rizzolatti is an Italian neuroscientist, emeritus professor of Human Physiology at the University of Parma, known for the discovery of mirror neurons and of the mirror mechanism, the circuit that links the observation of another's action to the observer's own motor system.[1](https://preview-www.nature.com/articles/nrn2805) According to a 2021 article in *Perspectives on Psychological Science*, his laboratory's single-neuron recordings in the macaque ventral premotor cortex in the early 1990s, published in *Brain* in 1996, showed that some neurons fire both when a monkey grasps an object and when it watches the same act, a finding that opened the field of social neuroscience.[2](https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-biol/02_recipients/41_awadee.html) He has received the Grawemeyer Award in [Psychology](https://www.edgepedia.org/psychology) (2007), the Prince of Asturias Award (2011), the Brain Prize (2014), Foreign Membership of the Royal Society (2021), and the International Prize for Biology (2025).[3](http://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Rizzolatti_Giacomo/CV)\n\n| Fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Born | 28 April 1937, Kyiv, in the former Soviet Union[4](https://brainprize.org/winners/higher-brain-functions-2014/giacomo-rizzolatti) |\n| Position | Emeritus professor of Human Physiology, University of Parma (Department of Medicine and Surgery)[5](https://personale.unipr.it/en/ugovdocenti/person/19311) |\n| Known for | Discovery of mirror neurons and the mirror mechanism; cognitive functions of the motor system[6](https://royalsociety.org/people/giacomo-rizzolatti-35047/) |\n| Signature work | \"Action recognition in the premotor cortex\", *Brain*, 1996: 92 mirror neurons identified in macaque area F5[7](https://pages.ucsd.edu/~jpineda/COGS260Mirroring/readings/Gallese%20et%20al.%20-%20action%20recognition%20in%20the%20premotor%20cortex.pdf) |\n| Training | Medicine (1961) and Neurology (1964), University of Padua[3](http://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Rizzolatti_Giacomo/CV) |\n| Clinical translation | Action Observation Therapy, used in stroke, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, and orthopedic rehabilitation[8](https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-biol/02_recipients/ceremony_41.html) |\n| Latest honor | 41st (2025) International Prize for Biology, in Neurobiology[9](https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-biol/02_recipients/awardee2025.html) |\n\n## Career and training\n\nRizzolatti took his medical degree at the [University of Padua](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-padua) in 1961 and specialized in neurology there in 1964.[3](http://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Rizzolatti_Giacomo/CV) He then worked as an assistant in human physiology at the University of Pisa and, from 1967 to 1969, at the University of Parma; the French Academy of Sciences CV dates the Pisa post 1964 to 1967, while the JSPS chronology gives 1965 to 1968.[10](https://www.academie-sciences.fr/pdf/membre/RizzolattiG_bio1106.pdf) From 1969 he has been at Parma, first as associate professor of human physiology (1969 to 1975) and then as professor; the cited institutional biographies disagree about when the professorship began, with some dating it to 1975 and the JSPS chronology giving 1972, so the start year is not settled.[3](http://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Rizzolatti_Giacomo/CV)\n\nAccording to the International Prize for Biology (JSPS), two visiting years interrupted the Parma stay: 1970 to 1971 as a visiting scientist in the Department of Psychology at [McMaster University](https://www.edgepedia.org/mcmaster-university), and 1980 to 1981 as visiting professor in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania.[9](https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-biol/02_recipients/awardee2025.html) He later directed the Department of Neuroscience at Parma from 2002 and has directed the Parma Brain Center for Social and Motor Cognition at the Italian Institute of Technology.[10](https://www.academie-sciences.fr/pdf/membre/RizzolattiG_bio1106.pdf) The University of Parma currently lists him as an emeritus professor.[5](https://personale.unipr.it/en/ugovdocenti/person/19311)\n\n## Discovery of mirror neurons\n\nMirror neurons were found by chance in monkeys in 1992, during single-cell recording in area F5 of the ventral premotor cortex, and were given their name four years later.[11](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691621990638) In his 2025 acceptance address for the International Prize for Biology, Rizzolatti said the team waited four years after the original observation, verifying carefully because he feared the finding was an artifact, before publishing in *Brain* and naming the neurons mirror neurons.[8](https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-biol/02_recipients/ceremony_41.html)\n\nThe 1996 *Brain* paper reported recordings from 532 neurons in area F5 of two macaque monkeys and described a newly identified set of 92 mirror neurons, each active both when the monkey performed a given action and when it observed a similar action performed by the experimenter; visual triggering required an interaction between an agent and an object.[7](https://pages.ucsd.edu/~jpineda/COGS260Mirroring/readings/Gallese%20et%20al.%20-%20action%20recognition%20in%20the%20premotor%20cortex.pdf) In 92 percent of these neurons the visual action responded to matched the motor response coded, and in about 30 percent the congruence was strict, matching even how the action was executed, such as a precision grip.[7](https://pages.ucsd.edu/~jpineda/COGS260Mirroring/readings/Gallese%20et%20al.%20-%20action%20recognition%20in%20the%20premotor%20cortex.pdf) A companion 1996 paper in *Cognitive Brain Research* proposed that this shared motor representation is the basis of the understanding of motor events.[12](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8800951/)\n\n**Beyond F5.** Subsequent research found mirror neurons in the monkey inferior parietal lobule, and, according to Rizzolatti's 2025 address, in birds, mice, rats, marmosets, and bats; the working hypothesis he described is that the mirror mechanism is an ancient one, allowing an individual to understand others' actions by mapping them onto its own motor representations.[8](https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-biol/02_recipients/ceremony_41.html) A 2014 review defines mirror neurons as visuomotor neurons modulated by the location in space, the viewing perspective, and the value of the object of the observed act.[13](https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2013.0420)\n\n## Representative work\n\n**\"Action recognition in the premotor cortex\"** (*Brain*, 1996) is the paper that established mirror neurons: it defined the class, quantified the observation-execution congruence, and, noting the proposed homology between area F5 and human Broca's region, argued that a similar matching system should exist in humans.[7](https://pages.ucsd.edu/~jpineda/COGS260Mirroring/readings/Gallese%20et%20al.%20-%20action%20recognition%20in%20the%20premotor%20cortex.pdf) **\"The Cortical Motor System\"** (*Neuron*, 2001).[14](https://doi.org/10.1016/s0896-6273(01)00423-8)\n\n## The mirror mechanism in humans\n\nUsing brain imaging, Rizzolatti's group showed that the human ventral premotor cortex and inferior parietal lobule activate when a person observes others' actions, and that the anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex activate both when feeling disgust and when observing disgust in others.[2](https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-biol/02_recipients/41_awadee.html) A 1999 *Science* study demonstrated the mirror system's role in human imitation,[9](https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-biol/02_recipients/awardee2025.html) and a 2004 *Annual Review of Neuroscience* synthesis presented the mirror-neuron mechanism as fundamental to action understanding and imitation and discussed its relationship to language.[15](https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.neuro.27.070203.144230) Rizzolatti has also proposed the premotor theory of attention, which explains selective attention through motor preparation.[9](https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-biol/02_recipients/awardee2025.html)\n\n## Scientific standing of the mirror-neuron account\n\nThe strong version of the theory, that mirror neurons underpin action understanding, has been contested. A 2009 review argued that no monkey data directly test the action-understanding theory and that human evidence weighs against it.[16](https://pages.ucsd.edu/~jpineda/COGS171/readings/Hickok.pdf) A 2014 article concluded there is no proof that mirror neuron activity leads to action understanding, criticizing Rizzolatti's goal-mirroring model as resting on a tautological definition.[17](https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00333/full)\n\nA 2021 survey in *Perspectives on Psychological Science* drew a narrower line: multivoxel pattern analysis, patient studies, and brain stimulation support a role for mirror-neuron areas in low-level processing of observed actions, such as distinguishing grip types, but not in high-level interpretation such as inferring intentions.[11](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691621990638) The same survey found that behavioral and neurological studies have tried and failed to support the broken-mirror theory of autism,[11](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691621990638) though successor models (EP-M and STORM) still posit some mirror-system dysfunction in autism.[18](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1362361320936945) In a later reply, the author of the 2009 review wrote that there is growing agreement that motor-centric models are untenable while motor-modulatory models remain viable but face theoretical and empirical hurdles.[19](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-and-cognition/article/abs/motor-systems-contribution-to-perception-and-understanding-actions-clarifying-mirror-neuron-myths-and-misunderstandings/9A500A311904C35AB302F6A56BB5947C)\n\n## Honours\n\nThe 2007 Grawemeyer Award in Psychology recognized the identification of a mirror-neuron system in monkeys that also exists in humans, which may explain empathy, communication, and learning by seeing.[20](https://web.archive.org/web/20121107222524/http:/grawemeyer.org/psychology/previous-winners/2007-giacomo-rizzolatti-vittorio-gallese-and-leonardo-fogassi.html) His other honors include the Golgi Award (1982), the Feltrinelli Prize for Medicine (2000), the IPSEN Foundation Neuroplasticity Prize (2007), the Signoret Neuropsychology Prize (2010), the Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research (2011), the Brain Prize from the Lundbeck Foundation (2014), the Ottorino Rossi Award (2024), and the 2025 International Prize for Biology, decided on 5 August 2025 in the field of neurobiology.[9](https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-biol/02_recipients/awardee2025.html) He was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences in 2012[21](https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/giacomo-rizzolatti-ovbd3f/) and a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 2021.[6](https://royalsociety.org/people/giacomo-rizzolatti-35047/) The 2025 biology prize, a certificate, a medal, and 10 million yen with an Imperial Gift, was presented on 17 December 2025 at The Japan Academy, with a commemorative symposium and his lecture \"How we understand others: The mirror mechanism\" scheduled for 20 to 21 December in [Tokyo](https://www.edgepedia.org/tokyo-ep6jg0kyrw).[8](https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-biol/02_recipients/ceremony_41.html)\n\n## Recent activity\n\nRizzolatti remains active in research. He authored *Mirroring Brain* ([Oxford University Press](https://www.edgepedia.org/oxford-university-press), 2023).[9](https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-biol/02_recipients/awardee2025.html) On the clinical side, he describes Action Observation Therapy, based on reactivating depressed motor programs through observation, as now used in orthopedic rehabilitation and in stroke, [Parkinson's disease](https://www.edgepedia.org/parkinsons-disease), and multiple sclerosis.[8](https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-biol/02_recipients/ceremony_41.html)\n\n## References\n\n\n1. The functional role of the parieto-frontal mirror circuit (Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2010). https://preview-www.nature.com/articles/nrn2805\n2. The 41st (2025) recipient, International Prize for Biology. https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-biol/02_recipients/41_awadee.html\n3. Academy of Europe: CV, Giacomo Rizzolatti. http://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Rizzolatti_Giacomo/CV\n4. Giacomo Rizzolatti, The Brain Prize. https://brainprize.org/winners/higher-brain-functions-2014/giacomo-rizzolatti\n5. Giacomo Rizzolatti, University of Parma, People and Organization. https://personale.unipr.it/en/ugovdocenti/person/19311\n6. Professor Giacomo Rizzolatti FRS, Royal Society. https://royalsociety.org/people/giacomo-rizzolatti-35047/\n7. Action recognition in the premotor cortex (Brain, 1996). https://pages.ucsd.edu/~jpineda/COGS260Mirroring/readings/Gallese%20et%20al.%20-%20action%20recognition%20in%20the%20premotor%20cortex.pdf\n8. 2025 Presentation Ceremony and Acceptance Address, International Prize for Biology. https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-biol/02_recipients/ceremony_41.html\n9. 2025 Prize Recipient, International Prize for Biology (JSPS). https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-biol/02_recipients/awardee2025.html\n10. C.V. de Giacomo Rizzolatti, Académie des sciences. https://www.academie-sciences.fr/pdf/membre/RizzolattiG_bio1106.pdf\n11. What Happened to Mirror Neurons? (Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2021). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691621990638\n12. Premotor cortex and the recognition of motor actions (Cognitive Brain Research, 1996), PubMed. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8800951/\n13. The mirror mechanism: recent findings and perspectives (Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 2014). https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2013.0420\n14. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0896-6273(01)00423-8\n15. The Mirror-Neuron System (Annual Review of Neuroscience, 2004). https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.neuro.27.070203.144230\n16. Eight Problems for the Mirror Neuron Theory of Action Understanding (Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2009). https://pages.ucsd.edu/~jpineda/COGS171/readings/Hickok.pdf\n17. Mirror neuron activity is no proof for action understanding (Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2014). https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00333/full\n18. Continuing to look in the mirror: a review of the broken mirror hypothesis, EP-M model and STORM model of autism (Autism, 2020). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1362361320936945\n19. The motor system's contribution to perception and understanding actions (Language and Cognition). https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-and-cognition/article/abs/motor-systems-contribution-to-perception-and-understanding-actions-clarifying-mirror-neuron-myths-and-misunderstandings/9A500A311904C35AB302F6A56BB5947C\n20. 2007 Grawemeyer Award in Psychology, University of Louisville (archived). https://web.archive.org/web/20121107222524/http:/grawemeyer.org/psychology/previous-winners/2007-giacomo-rizzolatti-vittorio-gallese-and-leonardo-fogassi.html\n21. Giacomo Rizzolatti, National Academy of Sciences directory. https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/giacomo-rizzolatti-ovbd3f/\n\n\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Life and health scientists › Medical and health researchers › Researchers in clinical neuroscience, neurology, and psychiatry research*\n\n*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026; Sep 30, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Sep 30, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [ "https://pages.ucsd.edu/~jpineda/COGS260Mirroring/readings/Gallese%20et%20al.%20-%20action%20recognition%20in%20the%20premotor%20cortex.pdf", "https://pages.ucsd.edu/~jpineda/COGS171/readings/Hickok.pdf" ], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/giacomo-rizzolatti", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/giacomo-rizzolatti.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. 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