Ever watched someone getting hit, and you immediately flinched as if you kind of felt that pain? Or feel your heartbeat increase while watching a car race? You are in neither situation but can feel that sensation. Why does that happen? What part of your brain is responsible for making you sense that?
The answer is Mirror neurons. These neurons in your brain play a crucial part in developing your empathy.
What are Mirror Neurons?
Researchers have noticed sympathetic reactions, like in the examples above, in people. These experiences have perplexed scientists, philosophers, and psychologists alike, but they could not find their reason. The research was then conducted on monkeys in the 1990s, where it was found that the same area of the brains of two monkeys lit up, when one monkey picked up something, and the other monkey watched. The same neurons were working when these two different things happened. The researchers decided to call those neurons” Mirror Neurons”.
These neurons are a part of motor neurons, present in the frontal lobe of your brain. Motor neurons are responsible for your muscular actions- like picking something, hitting something, grabbing something, etc. A subset of these motor neurons, i.e., the mirror neurons, fire up when you are just watching some action happening. Interestingly, these neurons are present in other parts of the brain also; like in the olfactory area. The presence of these neurons is a fascinating discovery in understanding the working of the brain. These neurons can tell us why we feel sympathy, pain, anger, etc., whenever we see someone else going through the same emotions. These mirror neurons make you empathetic to others. This brings us to the question- how do these neurons develop your empathy?
Mirror Neurons and Empathy
Humans have a much simpler mirror neuron system in different parts of their brains. One such system is Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC). This part of the brain is responsible for experiencing pain. So, let’s say if you watch someone getting their knee scrapped, some portion of your ACC will light up. The lit-up area of ACC contains mirror neurons, which makes you virtually feel the pain; which you just saw someone else experience. If these mirror neurons can feel physical pain, what about emotional pain? Both emotional and physical pain gets registered in ACC. So, the function of your mirror neurons stays the same even for emotional pain. When you see someone going through a trying time, you can feel them because your neurons mirror that pain. In short, you are empathizing with them.
Hence, this is the role mirror neurons play in making a person empathetic. They make you feel others’ pain as if you are walking in their shoes. It also tells us why psychopaths are not empathic; certain studies have shown that psychopaths have an impaired mirror neuron system. It does not allow their brains to mirror someone else’s pain, making them unempathetic.
The function of mirror neurons is not limited to just mimicking pain in your brain. They can also differentiate between random and contextual acts. They can understand the intent behind the actions and emotions. Understanding the context makes you relate to the people more. With this understanding, you are not only feeling the pain, but you are also understanding why is it so painful or emotional to them. Context gives a deeper meaning to everything that is happening. It makes it easy to understand and relatable for you.
Empathy is one of those crucial emotions that help you bond with people. When they need support, empathetic people can help you more because, on some level, they can understand and feel what you are going through. The ability to ‘walk in someone else’s shoes,’ was just a saying earlier. But now, scientific researchers and their research works are backing this statement. The field of mirror neurons is relatively new. There is a large scope of research and learning in this very intriguing field.
