Mirror neurons and emotions - do you "mirror"?

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whirlingmind
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06 Apr 2013, 9:15 pm

eric76 wrote:
nessa238 wrote:
so Mirror Neurons - anything interesting to say about them OP?


Shouldn't that be "so Mirror Neurons - anything interesting to say about them that has any scientific validity OP?"


Eric! I have decided, that you absolutely, definitely have an obsession (perhaps a special interest, although you are not diagnosed so it's speculation) about scientific papers and citations.

There's probably a pill you could take for this. :lol:


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eric76
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06 Apr 2013, 9:21 pm

whirlingmind wrote:
Are mirror neurons supposed to be about mirroring peoples' actions and emotions?


No.

A small portion of neurons in certain parts of the brain fire when observing someone else make certain movements. Actually, in monkeys. I'm not sure that they've ever been shown to exist in humans although it wouldn't surprise me much if they did.

If they do exist, it is very unlikely that they would have anything to do with affecting emotions or actions to any measurable degree. That is, if they do have any such effect, it is likely to be so minor that it could not be detected outside of a laboratory.



Marybird
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07 Apr 2013, 12:27 am

whirlingmind wrote:
Buggins wrote:
The controversial "broken mirror" hypothesis is brought up every once in a while, so what do you think about it?

Sympathetic/infectious laughter, for instance. How do you feel about the infamous laddergoat-video? (the relevant part starts about 20 into the video).


I watched the video for a couple of minutes, the laughter scared me it was weird, loud and sounded like someone on drugs. I couldn't tell what they were laughing at, or whether this was a real life video or some sort of realistic CGI, but I thought maybe something cruel happened to the goat and I stopped watching it as I didn't like it.

Are mirror neurons supposed to be about mirroring peoples' actions and emotions?

One thing that I do, is when I'm watching something on TV I do sometimes mirror the expressions of the people on the screen, and it's something others have made fun of me for before. If something is e.g. a tense/scary moment, I will also frown and look horrified sometimes. I get drawn into things on TV.

I don't know if that's to do with what you refer to.

I had the same reaction. I didn't laugh. The laughing and the knives were creepy and I couldn't figure out what was so funny about the goat.