Hello All!

My apologies for having not updated this blog for quite a while, I have been so busy… you know, graduate school will do that to people :) . So, today, I bring to you something I have been learning about in my physiological psychology course. It is, in my humble opinion, an amazing discovery that is changing psychology, even as you read this. What is it you ask? It’s Mirror Neurons! I realize not everyone is up to par on their neurobiology, so have no fear, I will be doing my best to explain everything as easily as possible- just write me an email or comment on this blog if I start making no sense :) . A neuron is a cell in our body that communicates information throughout the nervous system, and it tells our body how to react and interpret specific stimuli (e.g., touch, sense, feel, hear) in our immediate environment.

Now, the mirror part (or mirror neurons) is a bit more intricate. Let’s just say that the ‘mirror’ part of a mirror neuron is referring to the mental representations in our brain of any action we see- so the ‘mirror’ action of something we are observing is thereby transmitted into a mental representation in our brain. For example, if you see someone in a football game throw a football, your mirror neurons fire in your brain and there is a mental representation of that exact action (a football being thrown) inside your brain. This doesn’t mean that you are moving, it just means that the mirror neuron is fired and you interpret the move you are observing, such as throwing a football into the air. It’s amazing, to me at least, that we are able to see someone perform an action and although we don’t physically move, we are mentally moving because our mirror neurons are firing to the action we are observing.

Just when you thought it was getting interesting, there is more! Now, mirror neurons are neurons in the brain used to represent actions, this is in reference to your own actions, or those of others (as in the case of the football player). These representative actions can then be used for both imitating another’s actions (e.g., learning by seeing and then doing what you are seeing; you see someone hammer a nail into the wall, then you take a hammer and a nail, and hammer that nail straight into the wall- just as you observed and learned) and for understanding the meaning of another’s actions (e.g., he is smiling, he must be happy).

With this being said, after all the interpretation has been completed, our mirror neurons then permit us the selection of appropriate responses. For example, let’s say we see someone in a football game get a touchdown and the second after this occurs, he is tackled by the entire opposing team. Now, most people, observing this, will react by jumping up and down and screaming, most likely going “AWH! OUCH! UGH!” And of course, a reaction will be contingent upon whether or not you care about the tackled fella. But, needless to say, you will most likely react externally due to the result of mirror neurons firing from observing the tackled teammate. Whether you jump up and down in joy or fury is your prerogative :) .

Although in the case of watching a football game, mirror neurons sound awesome, as they add to the overall experience and awesomeness of hanging out with your buddies, they can sometimes get us into trouble. When you throw the Internet and video games into the mix of “watching and then doing”, I think you can see where this may be going. Iacoboni (2008) conducted mirror neuronal research in the field of video games that suggested violent video games reinforce an association of pleasure and accomplishment while inflicting harm (an obvious dynamic one would not want to encourage or pursue- so I would hope). For example, say I were playing Mario Kart DS (a racing game that uses go-kart) and saw the kart in front of me was rather sluggish. I would most likely see this as an opportunity to speed up, hit him in the process (of course, to knock him out and hope he falls behind in the race) and I would feel pleased because now, I am ahead of him in the game, will come in a better place than him and, I have accomplished my personal goal of winning the game- here’s hoping!

Furthermore, Iacoboni speculates that the strength of our mirror neuron system may be powerful enough that imitative violence, such as those commonly seen among video games, the Internet and many alternative media/technology mediums, may be harder to resist than we think. Dr. Iacoboni proposed, “the power of mirror neuron systems suggest that imitative violence may not always be a consciously mediated process.” In layman terms, this essentially means that the observer who is watching/playing the virtual violence may be in less control than we think.

Motor neurons were discovered in 1992 and their study is in its kindergarten shoes compared to what we will be learning in the near future. So just hold on tight, as I am sure there will be more to come in this revolutionary field of research! If you have any question, comments or suggestions regarding this article, please feel free to email me at: argosystudent@gmail.com.

Thanks guys and gals, and more later!

-Anna DiNoto, Psy,D. Clinical Psychology Graduate Student

*Note: The opinions are my own, Anna DiNoto’s, only. Thank you and I hope you enjoy and keep on reading as well as commenting- it is greatly appreciated !*

References

Kolb, B. & Whishaw, I.Q. (2008). Fundamentals of human neuropsychology (6th Ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publisher.

Iacoboni, M. (2008). “Mirroring People: The New Science of How We Connect with Others”, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York, NY.