Mirror Neurons

Years ago, one of the most important discoveries in the history of neuroscience happened by chance and changed our conception of how the brain works: mirror neurons. The mirror neurons participate in processes such as learning complex behaviours through observation (also called vicarious learning) and understanding the behaviour of others through empathy.

Thus, the research of these neurons has become one of the fundamental pillars to understand phenomena such as the involvement of empathy in the development of social skills, the construction of cultural schemes and how it is transmitted through generations and how behaviors are generated from the understanding of behavior.

Serendipity: The Unexpected Discovery of Mirror Neurons

In 1996, Giacomo Rizzolatti worked together with Leonardo Fogassi and Vottorio Gallese in the investigation of the functioning of motor neurons in the frontal cortex of the macaque monkey during the execution of hand movements when grasping or stacking objects. For their research, they used electrodes placed in the areas where these motor neurons are located, recording how they were activated while the monkey performed a behavior such as grasping for food.

Rizzolatti remembers that “when Fogassi, standing next to a fruit bowl, took a banana, we observed that some of the monkey’s neurons reacted, but: how could this happen if the animal had not moved? At first we thought it was an error in our measurement technique or maybe a failure of the equipment; then, we checked that everything was working well and that the reactions of the neuron occurred every time we repeated the movement, while the macaque was observing it”. So, as has happened with many other discoveries, the mirror neurons were found by chance, one serendipity .

What are mirror neurons?

The mirror neurons are a type of neuron that are activated when an action is performed and when the same action is observed being performed by another individual. They are highly specialized neurons that are able to understand the behavior performed by others, and not only understand it from an intellectual perspective, but also allow us to connect with the emotions that are manifested in the other. So much so that, in this way, we can feel completely moved when watching a beautiful love scene in a movie, such as the passionate kiss between two people.

Or, on the contrary, we feel sad when we observe many of the scenes shown to us daily by the news or newspapers about unpleasant situations that people live through, such as wars or natural disasters in regions of the world. When we see someone suffering or feeling pain, the mirror neurons help us read that person’s facial expression and, in particular, make us feel that suffering or pain.

The amazing thing about mirrored neurons is that it is a kind of virtual reality simulation experience of the other person’s action . In this way, mirrored neurons are closely linked to imitation and emulation. Because to carry out the imitation of the behaviour of another person, the brain needs to be able to adopt the perspective of that other person.

What is the importance of mirror neurons?

Knowing how this system of neurons specialized in understanding the behavior of others works is of great relevance, since it allows us to make hypotheses to investigate and understand many of the social and individual phenomena. And when talking about these phenomena, I not only refer to those that occur today, but also to how the skills and abilities that we possess today, such as the use of tools, the use of language and the transmission of knowledge and habits that constitute the foundations of our cultures today, were initiated and developed throughout the history of the evolution of man.

The beginning of civilization

It is here where we find the contributions of the Indian neurologist V. S. Ramachandrán , who defends the relevance of mirror neurons in the understanding of the beginning of civilization. To understand this, we must go back in time to 75,000 years ago, one of the key moments in human evolution, where the sudden appearance and rapid extension of a series of skills took place: the use of tools, fire, shelters and, of course, language, and the ability to read what someone is thinking and interpret that person’s behaviour. Although the human brain had reached its current size almost 300 or 400 thousand years ago, it was only about 100,000 years ago that these skills appeared and spread.

In this way, Ramachandran considers that 75,000 years ago this sophisticated system of mirror neurons arose that allowed to emulate and imitate the behavior of other people. Therefore, when a member of the group discovered something accidentally, such as the use of fire or a particular type of tool, instead of gradually disappearing, it spread rapidly, horizontally, through the population and was transmitted vertically through generations.

In this way, we can see that human beings develop a qualitative and quantitative leap within their evolution, since through learning by observation, emulation and imitation of behaviors, human beings can acquire behaviors that other species take thousands of years to develop. Thus Ramachandran illustrates with the following example how this happens: “A polar bear will take thousands of generations (maybe 100,000 years) to develop its fur. However, a human being, a child, can see his parents kill a polar bear, skin it and put the fur on his body, and learn it in one step. What the polar bear took 100,000 years to learn, he learns in a few minutes. And once he learns it, it spreads out in geometric proportions within a population. This is the basis for understanding how culture and civilisation began and developed. The imitation of complex skills is what we call culture and is the basis of civilization.

Understanding Civilization – Expanding the Paradigm of Science

Through this hypothesis developed by Ramachandran we can understand many of the social phenomena that occur in our cultures, as well as realize why we are essentially social beings. The discovery of mirror neurons opens a space for the relationship between neurosciences and the humanities, by bringing to the forefront issues of relevance related to leadership, human relations, culture and the transmission by generations of habits that make up our culture.

Continuing research on mirror neurons not only allows us to broaden the scientific paradigm in order to understand culture and social phenomena, but also helps us to develop therapeutic methods within the field of psychology and psychiatry that may be more effective.

The human brain remains an unknown quantity and holds many mysteries about its functioning on a global level, but we are getting closer to understanding the complex processes that identify the human being. Through research like this we can reach conclusions that travel from reductionism to a more accurate and global vision, with the aim of understanding why we are the way we are and the influence of the processes of the brain in society and how culture also shapes our brain.

As Antonio Damassio said in his book ” El Error de Descartes “:

“Discovering that a certain feeling depends on the activity of several specific brain systems that interact with various organs of the body does not diminish the condition of that feeling as a human phenomenon. Neither the anguish nor the exaltation that love or art can provide are devalued by knowing some of the countless biological processes that make them what they are. It should be precisely the other way around: our capacity to marvel should increase before the intricate mechanisms that make such magic possible “.