Saturday, December 09, 2006

Mirror Neurons and Empathy

A corresponded send me a link to an interesting bit of information, which I would like to pass on:

from Wikipedia:

A mirror neuron is a neuron which fires both when an animal performs an action and when the animal observes the same action performed by another (especially conspecific) animal. Thus, the neuron "mirrors" the behavior of another animal, as though the observer were itself performing the action. These neurons have been observed in primates, including humans, and in some birds. In humans, they have been found in Broca's area and the inferior parietal cortex of the brain. Some scientists consider mirror neurons one of the most important findings of neuroscience in the last decade.
[..]
It is not normally possible to study single neurons in the human brain, so scientists can not be certain that humans have mirror neurons. However, the results of brain imaging experiments have shown that the human inferior frontal gyrus and inferior parietal cortex is active when the person performs an action and also when the person sees another individual performing an action. Therefore, these brain regions are likely to contain mirror neurons and have been defined as the human mirror neuron system. [..]

In the monkey, mirror neurons are found in the inferior frontal gyrus and inferior parietal lobule. These neurons are active when the monkeys perform certain tasks, but they also fire when the monkeys watch someone else perform the same specific task. Researchers using fMRI, TMS, and EEG have found evidence of a similar system (matching observations with actions), in the human brain.[..]

Mirror neurons certainly have the potential to provide a mechanism for action understanding, imitation learning, and the simulation of other people's behaviour.[..]

Defects in mirror neurons are linked to people with autism.


another quote form an essay on the subject:



Rizzolatti's discovery can help us solve this age-old puzzle. He recorded from the ventral premotor area of the frontal lobes of monkeys and found that certain cells will fire when a monkey performs a single, highly specific action with its hand: pulling, pushing, tugging, grasping, picking up and putting a peanut in the mouth etc. different neurons fire in response to different actions. One might be tempted to think that these are motor "command" neurons, making muscles do certain things; however, the astonishing truth is that any given mirror neuron will also fire when the monkey in question observes another monkey (or even the experimenter) performing the same action, e.g. tasting a peanut! With knowledge of these neurons, you have the basis for understanding a host of very enigmatic aspects of the human mind: "mind reading" empathy, imitation learning, and even the evolution of language. Anytime you watch someone else doing something (or even starting to do something), the corresponding mirror neuron might fire in your brain, thereby allowing you to "read" and understand another's intentions, and thus to develop a sophisticated "theory of other minds."


Sounds like these mirror neurons could be a possible mechanism underlying empathy and altruistic behavior. The mirror neuron systems described in monkeys appear to pertain to gross an fine motor skills. Humans may have more developed and flexible mirroring systems, better equipped to evaluate visual and auditory symbols. Our culture and learning is based on imitation. In early development, gross motor skills imitation is the easiest kind, and comes first, followed by fine motor skills and language. One can imagine same type of pathways that help people learn the meaning of complex emotions and how they are expressed.

Perhaps, in brains of psychopaths they malfunction because of a genetic defect or, in frontal characteropathy, damage to frontal zones of the brain? The link to autism is also IMO significant.

Here is another quote that sums up my own recent thoughts on altruism:

It is often said that man is selfish by nature. Even when humans sometimes demonstrate altruistic behavior, e.g., help another without obvious gain for the self, it is done with the expectation that help will be reciprocated, or so says the game theory. Yet, the understanding of how mirror neurons work demonstrates that empathy and conscience are very natural. If someone has troubles, you also feel bad, and if someone is happy, you feel happy too. When a baby cries, his mother feels his crying as his own; and when mother is happy and content, so is the baby -- this is very important, especially in the first few months of life. Such behavior is natural for us, we are really not THAT selfish.

It all fits, as a piece of a puzzle, unless I am missing some details.

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