Yet, what caught my eye while reading this study was a common theme of mirroring. We briefly touched on mirror neurons in class, but mirror neurons are essential to human interaction. Mirror neurons reflect the behavior of others in an attempt to build rapport between two animals. Ever wondered why one person crosses their arms almost immediately after their crush does? Humans are very sensitive to these social cues. We subconsciously use them every day.
So, when Decety introduced the idea of emotional contagion, I couldn't help but notice its similarities to mirroring. Emotional contagion, Decety says, is "an automatic response resulting in similar emotion being around in the observer as a direct result of perceiving the expressed emotion of another." Mirroring is the mimicry of other behaviors by an animal But wait... that's basically mirroring, right? Not quite, but it's close.
Emotional contagion is very similar to mirroring, but I would say it's a more specific type of mirroring. Emotional contagion results solely from emotional stimulation. I would even hazard a guess that mirror neurons in the prefrontal cortex and other areas responsible for empathy are active during emotional contagion. Why wouldn't they be? If one exhibits an emotional response as a result of a stimulus, wouldn't mirror neurons, or as I'll call them, "emotional contagion neurons," be firing? I guess we don't know. But the two concepts are very similar and it's just food for thought.
What does this mean? It means that your empathy, like any other complex, multimodal emotion, is not a theory or a figment of our imagination. Brain makes mind. If your brain wants to mimic the emotions of someone else to defend the species, it will do just that. It will make you feel and fire together. Mirror neurons help us build connections, so why would empathy be any different?
So perhaps empathy is the just feeling that results from the engagement of our mirror neurons? Human social drive is instinctual - it leads us to desire connection with others because connecting with others is what allows us to fulfill our wants and needs most efficiently - both as individuals and as a species. Mirror neurons seem to represent this drive at the biochemical level and support basic social interactions. In doing so, they form our non-verbal language. For example, a child learns in large part by modeling older siblings and parents; two people signal their interest in one another by mimicking eachother's body language. More generally, we identify with eachother based on common experiences because the mirror neurons that fired during my experience fire again when they recognize that you have had the same or similar experience. Perhaps mirror neurons and empathy are more closely tied than you suggest above?
ReplyDeleteThis makes me wonder what is happening when people feel the opposite of what they see others feel. For example, Dr. Decety mentioned that some people feel joy when they see their enemies in pain. They are still observing and understanding another's emotions but are feeling something different. What neurons would be responsible for this schadenfreude?
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