Social interactions require awareness and understanding of the behavior of others. Mirror neurons, cells representing an action by self and others, have been proposed to be integral to the cognitive substrates that enable such awareness and understanding. Mirror neurons of the primate neocortex represent skilled motor tasks, but it is unclear if they are critical for the actions they embody, enable social behaviors, or exist in non-cortical regions. We demonstrate that the activity of individual VMHvl^PR neurons in the mouse hypothalamus represents aggression performed by self and others. We used a genetically encoded mirror-TRAP strategy to functionally interrogate these aggression-mirroring neurons. We find that their activity is essential for fighting and that forced activation of these cells triggers aggressive displays by mice, even toward their mirror image. Together, we have discovered a mirroring center in an evolutionarily ancient region that provides a subcortical cognitive substrate essential for a social behavior.

社交互动需要了解和理解他人的行为。镜像神经元是代表自我和他人行为的细胞，已被认为是实现这种意识和理解的认知基础的组成部分。灵长类动物新皮质的镜像神经元代表熟练的​​运动任务，但尚不清楚它们是否对于它们所体现的动作至关重要、实现社会行为或存在于非皮质区域。我们证明小鼠下丘脑中单个 VMHvl ^PR神经元的活动代表了自身和他人的攻击行为。我们使用基因编码的镜像 TRAP 策略来功能性地询问这些攻击镜像神经元。我们发现它们的活动对于战斗至关重要，并且这些细胞的强制激活会引发小鼠的攻击性表现，甚至是针对它们的镜像。我们一起在一个进化古老的区域发现了一个镜像中心，它提供了社会行为所必需的皮层下认知基础。