History: Discovered by Accident
It all started in early 1990s with the eating of a peanut at a research lab in Parma, Italy. The team there had implanted electrodes in the brain of a macaque monkey in order to map out which neurons controlled the monkey’s movements. One of the researchers had brought a peanut back from lunch, and as the monkey watched him lift the peanut to his mouth there was a spike in the monkey’s neural activity. The astonishing discovery: The neurons that fired were the same neurons the monkey used to move his own actual body. The monkey’s brain seemed to be having a physical experience just by watching a physical experience. [Accessed from: http://bit.ly/2mWwMDP]
It turns out we all have a special cluster of cells in our brains that scientists have named “mirror neurons” because they seem to mirror in your brain an experience you see, hear, or read.
Neuroscientist Giacomo Rizzolatti, MD, who with his colleagues at the University of Parma first identified mirror neuron says that the neurons could help explain how and why we "read" other people's minds and feel empathy for them.
"When we record signals from neurons in monkeys, we can really know that a single neuron is involved in both doing the task and seeing someone else do the task," he says. "With imaging…you have activation from both doing and seeing."
If watching an action and performing that action can activate the same parts of the brain in monkeys--down to a single neuron--then it makes sense that watching an action and performing an action could also elicit the same feelings in people. [Accessed from: http://bit.ly/19HIYyG]
Before the discovery of mirror neurons, scientists generally believed that our brains use logical thought processes to interpret and predict other people’s actions. Now, however, many have come to believe that we understand others not by thinking, but by feeling. For mirror neurons appear to let us “simulate” not just other people’s actions, but the intentions and emotions behind those actions. When you see someone smile, for example, your mirror neurons for smiling fire up, too, creating a sensation in your own mind of the feeling associated with smiling. You don’t have to think about what the other person intends by smiling. You experience the meaning immediately and effortlessly. [Accessed from: http://bit.ly/2mtC0Xv]
So, Let’s see how well our mirror neurons can participate! Let’s try an experiment!
First, with something sweet. What if you are in the middle of a hot summer beach and you see a child enjoying this:
Wouldn’t that awaken some craving? I’m not sure about you but I have a sweet tooth, seeing someone eating ice cream or cake in an instance is even tempting. Second, what about watching a movie of a Man being chased by this big cat right here:
Adrenaline pumping? If my cousins were watching this they would certainly scream, “runnnnnn!” (haha) Amazing how much attachment can we have in a movie scene. You remember that lady with a long hair that will come out from the television? Yes, don’t worry I didn’t put her photo her. I would be the first one to shriek in my blog then!
Now, what scenarios can you remember that you really reacted well as if it happened to you when you've only seen it. The point of our little experiment is to see how our mirror neurons can gage us. After-all, reacting to much of something we see might not be too much when your mirror neurons are just naturally active!That’s how it helps us easily RELATE to one another, because we just don't see it, our brains process it as if we are on their shoes.
For my next article I will write more on neurocinema, advertising and I'll see other details that will also be linked to mirror neurons. Thanks for reading. I hope you learn something, if you have any questions, I hope those questions will lead me to more studies.
Have a good day ^ ^