More About Mirror Neurons – Monkey See – Monkey Do 
A mirror neuron is a part of the brain in human beings (and other animals) that fires when we do something and also when we see the same action performed by someone else. Neurons that act in this way have been found in various parts of the brain and are offering explanations for everything from our attraction to watching sports to our empathic reactic to the suffering of others.
This two part video gives a simple but accurate description of the discovery and function of mirror neurons –
___________________________________________________________________
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100412162112.htm
Related articles
- Empathy: of monkeys, mirrors and men (bitesizedbrains.com)
- Baby to Baby, Mouse to Mouse: “I Feel Your Pain” (psychologytoday.com)
- Do ‘Monkey See, Monkey Do’ mirror neurons influence human behavior? (news.bioscholar.com)
- Mythbusters: 5 Amazing Facts about the Brain (psychosycho.wordpress.com)
- Major discovery explains how adult brain cleans out dead brain cells, produces new ones (medicalxpress.com)
- Is the search for the cause of autism a hall of mirrors? (inside-the-brain.com)
- Monkey see, monkey do? The role of mirror neurons in human behavior (eurekalert.org)
Fascinating stuff. But . . . it’s based on WATCHING and SEEING.
What about blind people who can’t SEE us? Do they benefit from having mirror neurons?
No idea. Excellent question.
BTW: I’m not expecting you to ANSWER that question (unless you have the answer at your fingertips) . . . it just popped into mind as he used the verbs GAZE, SEE, WATCH, LOOK, etc.
“Mirror neurons respond to sound. In monkeys, mirror neurons fire at sounds associated with an action, such as breaking a peanut or tearing paper. Mirroring has been discovered in birds hearing bird song, and in humans. Recent work, led by Emiliano Ricciardi at the University of Pisa, Italy, found that blind people, using their hearing, interpret the actions of others by recruiting the same human mirror system brain areas as sighted people.” – http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/observer/2011/march-11/reflections-on-mirror-neurons.html
and
“The results of this study illustrate that visual experience is not necessary for the development and function of the mirror system. Congenitally blind subjects showed mirror network activation in response to action sounds in the same brain areas that were active in response to both visual and auditory stimuli in sighted individuals. The authors conclude that the human mirror system can develop without visual input and is able to process information about actions that comes from other sensory modalities, as well.” – http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-mind-is-a-mirror
Wow! That was fast . . . and about what I expected.
Thanks!
I was wondering why you hadn’t posted anything for quite some time (no notifications in my reader), when I realised 😳 I hadn’t subscribed…
Great series on the brain – thank you 🙂
Apparently, that’s what is behind our response to music. When we imagine a song, the same neurons fire as when we actually HEAR it. And if we read about an action, the part of the brain which controls that action activities (normally, without actually causing the action to be performed)