What Do Mirror Neurons Really Do?
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- Опубліковано 19 чер 2024
- Mirror neurons are a very cool part of our brains but some people are taking it way further by making claims that they are responsible for telepathy and ESP. It goes without saying that this isn’t true, but what exactly do mirror neurons really do?
Hosted by: Hank Green
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www.sciencedirect.com/science...
link.springer.com/content/pdf...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2...
pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f021...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
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cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.d...
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The lack of a Skillshare ad at the end was unexpected
Let me guess, you got a Skillshare subscription and you don't know why. Rewind to 6:00 and listen carefully,
I really thought this was gonna be sponsored by skillshare
I know right? First time in my life that I was (almost?) disappointed in not seeing an add...
Maybe cause I didn't get to yell "Aha! I knew it ! "
“....related to how we share skills...” (my brain fills in his next words.... “and if you’re interested in sharing skills, this Video is brought to you by Skillshare.”). 😅😂🤣
When you advertise so much your absence is noticed, that's still a sort of advertisement.
This whole video was meant to be a segue, but we're in the universe that it didn't happen in 😢
Same
The way those last few lines were going, I was really expecting a smooth segue into Skillshare.
"smooth"
*Every single bloody time I read something about neurons, I'm amazed*
All fired up,.so to speak.
The human brain truly is amazing it’s so complex and fascinating I wonder if we’ll truly ever unlock all its secrets
@@aamirrazak3467 I agree brother
Of all the episodes to be sponsored by skillshare this should be the one!
Its so crazy that we're still in the dark about most of our our brain functions
Really makes ya reflect on things, don't it?
I'm reflecting on your deplorable grammar.
hahaha
@@richardjones4259 there’s way worse examples than this in UA-cam comments bro. The only correction is “doesn’t it” fixed from “don’t it”. very nit-picky of you.
@Rulya Mórrigan Ard Mhacha did you really just censor the word God??
The main confusion comes from the difference in original monkey studies which actually did look at neurons (brain cells) and human studies. Human studies using EEG or fMRI can never look at individual neurons and therefore only at indirect similar activation of millions of neurons (EEG) or blood flow (fMRI). So mirror neurons in humans are way less established than in monkeys because we usually don't measure single neuron activity.
I'm under the impression that they (mirror neurons) are not established in humans.
Given that if one neuron fires, there's equal probability of an adjacent one firing, I would think the term 'mirror neuron' is a misnomer. Neurons behave like neurons, but groups of neurons can form structures and structures are able to demonstrate their effects on thought and cognition using tools designed to measure excitement or arousal. A brain cell, I don't think reveals much about how the brain works just on its own because in the brain are structures and in those structures are networks of signal carriers called neurons. A system comprised of structures which themselves are comprised out of networks which themselves self-organize algorithmically to optimize the efficiency of the signal. The brain forms itself around the thoughts it wants to think.
I couldnt stop looking at the curve on your hair Hank.
Cedric, now I simply CANT focus on what he is saying
I think it stands out and it looks beautiful! It draws attention to the fact that the hair on the other side of his head just proofed up a little bit too much.
Now thank you hahahah
Had to make me look at it, didn't cha???
I read this as top comment and will now for sure be forced to fixate on it. Another like from me. Misery loves company I guess. Haha.
i kid you not like half of the comments are about how much they expected this to be sponsored by skillshare
This is a miss opportunity for skillshare.
One of the best SciShows. Thank you.
Totaly expected a skillshare merch at the end.
This would've been a perfect video for Skillshare to sponsor.
I can imagine this tying into gesticulation, too. If the person speaking is moving their hands and arms, perhaps they're activating the recipient's mirror neurons to ultimately better convey what's being communicated via patterned neurological stimulation. This is pure speculation and I haven't yet looked deeper into this consideration, though...
Interesting hypothesis. Just haven't seen a person where can actually get any information from their gesticulation unless of course, they know sign language
@@bobthegoat7090 I'm not sure how that could be tested, though. Isolating the stimulation of the mirror neurons from the conscious analysis/interpretation of the hand/arm motions would be tough. I've seen people glean significant information from mere gestures, but I don't think I could attribute it to mirror neurons and not just analytical reasoning. I'm going to search for some relevant studies when I can.
@chaosism that is a very interesting thought.
Am I the only one that was 100% sure this episode would have a Skillshare sponsorship?
It’s how we share skills, and learn skills from others as we watch them
This video is not associated with Skillshare
Thank you for putting together a thoughtful and measured summary of some of this research! (Though still prefer referring to a “mirror system” than “mirror neurons” but c’est la vie! 🙊)
I think that explains humans a lot. And why it's so hard to unlearn some behaviors. because even when someone's doing something that's bad, we still trust them. And especially as children, we copy those behaviors.
This is ONLY in the case of children because they don’t know any better and every kid trusts their parents. When kids grow up they’re able to think for themselves so not sure what you’re talking about
awesome video!
Watch someone get a chest tube put in when they are not under sedation causes me extensive physical pain as if it were happening to me. I can feel it. However when I am watching an autopsy, it doesn't bother me. Its someone I see feeling and expressing pain without any sedation. I feel the sensation on my body like its happening to me. It doesn't bother me when they are either dead or unconscious like during autopsy or surgery. Its the ER stuff with no sedation. Compund fractures, too. It seems to only happen when the person is expressing or feeling something and I know they're experiencing it. I chalk it up to mirror neurons and know to be more cautious when I ever do that thing that I saw happen to someone else that caused that situation to happen and it helps me understand and relate to the person on a very empathic level. Mirror neurons do not only keep us safe, they also help us care for and relate to others.
This was probably more educational than my 3 hours of lectures on this the other day
Does this apply to imagination, fantasy, dreams? Learning to move from complex thinking. Training before try.
I think having the ability for your brain to analyze seemingly meaningless tasks would be very beneficial. Many tasks performed by humans have no direct results and by watching these seemingly meaningless tasks we can see end results and and attribute them to previous actions and learn from them. Would seem beneficial for things like advanced tool making, among many other things.
now i'm super conscious about hank's hand motions
glad to know i wasn’t the only one expecting a skillshare ad at the end
I often watch youtube videos at 1.25 speed, Hank Greens videos always seem like they should be played at 0.75 speed
My kneejerk reaction was to pause the video and look for yet another Skillshare sponsorship to skip. Thank goodness there wasn't one! I don't blame people for acquiring sponsorships to make a living (I would probably do the same)- I just wish there was a more diverse pool of sponsors instead of the same few all the time.
If someone tells a lie there is subtle gestures, when your mirror neurons fire you could potentially sense their lie, possibly what esp is based on
It would be interesting to see results of testing from people with psychopathy. It's well-known they have difficulty with empathy.
actually any sociopath will do the trick.
@@maxwellhawk sociopaths feel empathy, they just don’t care. Whereas psychopaths cannot. Soooooooooooooooooo
@@johnclynes1522 that's pretty much makes anyone sociopath, including me. ^^
@@maxwellhawk yup, u got it
Understanding what somebody else in a situation would feel about the situation isn't the same thing as feeling what somebody else feels, for example, knowing that something will cause somebody to be sad isn't the same thing as feeling sad simply from seeing somebody sad - potentially without even knowing why. A sociopath can do the former no problem, and manipulate events to target specific emotions that they want another person to feel, for example, to make somebody feel sad and sympathetic, completely free from the empathy that would make them sad to see another person become sad. So no, I wouldn't expect mirror neurons to be involved, they relate to motor function, not sensory input, possibly with the exception of mirroring facial expressions, but even then, it'd be far from being the dominant mechanism.
@ 5:44 : Why do you say that "when we're experiencing it for some unrelated reasons"? It may be related reasons as well, right?
I could’ve sworn this was coming to a skillshare ad 5:59
Hank from crash course philosophy😱 ur a cool dude hank🤙🏽
Well explained.
That curl!!
there's also the issue that there are different types of empathy, and that SHOWING emotions in the same way, FEELING the same emotions, and AWARENESS of someone else's emotions are all different things, so IF mirror neurons are involved, they might be doing different things or sitting out depending on which of these types of empathy are involved.
That thing where cheerleaders smile and cheer so the audience smiles and cheers? That doesn't work on me. This has nothing to do with whether I can figure out HOW those cheerleaders are feeling, it just means I am not going to smile and cheer in response if I am not already feeling that way; which also means that I'm not going to START feeling excited and as if I'm a useful part of my team's success. If I can get my face and body to express an emotion, I can usually get myself to feel it, but I'm not going to succeed at getting my face and body to express an emotion OR feel it based on whether I see someone else feeling that way (or even pretending they do.)
Is there a difference between /recognizing/ the feelings of another and actively /feeling/ the feelings of another? Is empathy only one of those, or are these different kinds of empathy, or are these values along single spectrum of empathic ability?
I think the only way to recognise the feeling of another is by actively feeling it (or recalling somehow feeling it). It's like seeing colours, you can never recognise a colour no matter how it's been described to you until you experience seeing it.
kujmous
Here is a link to a Ted Talk of one neuroscientist that worked extensively with mirror neurons.
Note what he says about phantom limb syndrome. People can literally feel pain or have pain relieved via the mirror neuron system once the feedback system is disabled (you will understand once watched).
How this translates to mirror neurons and emotion is where the current research is trying to uncover. Emotion is different to sensation & quite possibly mirror neurons may affect emotion more due to there “not” being a feedback system to alert your brain this emotion is not happening to you.
This is where the unknown part exists.
kujmous
ua-cam.com/video/t0pwKzTRG5E/v-deo.html
Im just curious about the one test that had the person think of a number and those areas of the brain light up and the number thinking of showed up more on a RNG.
I liked hanks hair curl.
Mirror neuron in my brain,
Help me feel my partner's pain.
My mirror neurons fire rapidly when I'm listening to Kpop and watching the choreography.
While watching this video I felt like I moved my hand one thousand times
Wait... why haven’t I heard of this before?
I guess this explains why we can be visual learners.
With everyone expecting a Skillshare ad with that ending, they didn't really have to put it in the video😄
Proud to say mirror neurons were discovered at my university and by two of my professors
His hair is crucial
I thought psychopaths are shown to have far fewer if any mirror neurons hence an empathy connection?
Hank Hank revolution!
0:14 I hope Sam Shultz did that animation
Hank: "We still don't know if these mirror neurons have any role to play in why humans are an unusually social species."
100,000 ants would like to know your current location
LoadStar81: *1,000,000,000,000
Iftfy
@@sdfkjgh I was making a conservative estimate on the number of ants watching this video, but you're right. They've all seen it by now. ;)
Oh my that hair curl
well done!! thanks for covering this topic. But it's totally outdated. Predictive coding/processing models have replaced these ideas mostly....look it up, it's amazing!
Well, some human adult people, who can be anywhere on an intelligence measurement scale, lack the ability to experience empathy. I wonder if those test subjects were psychologically evaluated for empathy apart from the testing to see if there was a correlation?
Random totally uneducated thought: autism often affects motor skills. Could dysfunctioning mirror neurons explain autism? And if so, could this mean that there is a relation between mirror neurons and empathy?
But the problem with that is that not all autistic people have any trouble with their motor-functions. Some of them (like me) Have no problems with their motor-functions.
Or...it could be why we are thinking, 'I don't understand why you are doing so many useless things for the sake of conformity.' or 'I guess I had better memorise and copy this useless behaviour so that I won't be ostracised or ridiculed.'
Here's another conundrum, someone will probably be aggrieved because I've said this as their ego will be activated. They will believe it is aggressive and I am attacking them. Whereas in my mind it is simply observational.
I think a lot of neurotypical behaviour seems useless, but that doesn't make me feel aggressive or superiour toward neurotypical people. However, they feel aggressive toward me if I point it out. As far as I can tell this is because of the imaginary ranking system. I guess I'm supposed to be at the bottom, and recognise that and therefore not question my betters.
It's positively evil of me to think that everyone has the same value. I should probably be made into soap, right? Now that is a deliberately pointed remark, just in case anyone is confused.
Not an expert too, but here's my thought.
I think it wouldn't "explain" autism as a whole, because there's a lot more going on. A first interesting question to ask would be that link between motor skills and mirror neurons. What link are we looking for? It seems that the mirror neurons have more to do with interpreting movement than actual movement itself. You could argue that their motor skills could be affected because underdeveloped mirror neurons, made movement learning much harder. But on the other hand there are more mechanisms in play if we talk about movement learning We have to take caution with correlation vs causation on the other hand. Then there's the temporal precedence problem. Would mirror neurons explain autism, or could autism explain disfunctioning mirror neurons? Maybe those mirror neurons are 'underdeveloped' because people with ASD pay less attention to people in general and so the neurons are less trained? Maybe it's even in both directions. And about the empathy, I think also here other third variables could explain the lack of empathy. For example: we know the FFA, a region which handles facial analyses as one if its functions, is underdeveloped in (some?) people with ASD compared with people without. This way they don't pay as much attention to certain facial social cues, which could also explain a certain part of empathy? I also think empathy is a very broud construct in the first place.
There are studies that proved that. But then again, there are studies that disproved it. So we don't really know, we can't look into the activity of a single neuron yet (well, we can but it's very invasive).
@@EliseyGretchko just to add something, autism isn't uniform and seems to fluctuate in extremes. For example, I'm what's called a super recogniser which means my facial analysing abilities are way higher than the average human eventhough I have autism.
My personal opinion is that autism seem to encourage narrow concentrated focus (specialising), for example my mind will be super good at one region of my brain while dysfunctional in others. Some will be hypersensitive to something while insensitive to other things. Which might be just part of human evolution to evolve into a superorganism with highly specialised individuals.
The mirror neuron system in that case, is just like any other region of the brain, can be hyperactive or dysfunctional. For example, a lot of autistic females seem to be exceptionally good at "mirroring", they call it masking which is why many females go undiagnosed, because they can "mimic" seeming "normal" very well, while they actually are dysfunctional in other ways.
I think it could be the other way round with empathy. The best way to show someone that you feel with him is to mimic his actions. That would need the mirror neurons. When you don't need to show your empathy, you don't need them. Could explain different results in experiments. Just a thought of mine no research back up.
This reports controversy on the potential positive influence on empathy by mirror neurons, but what about studies on the negative influence when suppressed? Didn't I hear of a study or two where the prefrontal cortex was associated with psychopathic behavior? Found a recent one here that cites and criticizes a few older studies: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5810456/
This kind of proves my theory about consciousness the soul and information storage. My theory says that the human subconsciousness and or soul contains all the knowledge information and measurements from the future and past , not to mention the present ,can be translated into the subconscious I mean into the conscious mind where it can be expressed publicly . But you don't really have to do that unless you're trying to prove something ,but I digress, what I'm saying is we are born knowing all the secrets to the universe ,we merely need to translate it to our conscious minds or not.
Can you do a full video about the neuroscience of empathy? I've heard some people (enough to be concerning) claim that feeling what others are feeling is some kind of superpower, that it makes them special because most people can't do it. And I have to wonder: are they just ignorant about the science, or do we live in a world where empathy is actually abnormal?
I'm guessing there's an equal amount of people claiming the exact opposite. Understanding others emotions makes evolutionary sense, however feeling it for yourself does not
@@userou-ig1ze Actually, feeling it yourself does make sense, evolutionarily speaking. Understanding a concept is a higher-level process, requiring more cognitive abilities than we had during early human evolution. Emotions evolved because they're quick and easy heuristics to guide our behavior: if we feel fear, we run; if we feel disgust, we avoid things; if we feel sadness, we try not to repeat stuff in the future; if we feel happy, we DO try to repeat stuff; etc. So if the point of empathy is to guide our behavior toward doing things that are beneficial for others as well as ourselves, then simply simulating their emotions inside us is the easiest way for that to evolve, once self emotions already happened.
@@IceMetalPunk unsure empathy makes me do good for me and others, seems handwavy
@@userou-ig1ze How so? Do you like feeling sad or scared? No, probably not. So if someone else is feeling sad or scared, and you feel that with them, wouldn't you try to help them if you can?
Watching hank green talking makes me want to wear glasses yes
I almost went to change into a flannel shirt, but then remembered it's 79 f in here.
Learn by doing!
My mirror neurons were active whilst watching this video.
Wouldnt this happen because by default we visualize everything we see(i.e whenever we are not immersed in our own thoughts and are paying attention to whatever us happening infront of us) for example whenever someone is drinking water or eating infront of me or playing some kind of sports and if i am paying attention to it, then in my brain i automatically visualize as if i am doing the action even though i am not moving a muscle. So it makes sense that same parts of the brain will get activated as the person doing the action whom you are observing. Just like how visual cortex gets activated when you are imaging something even if your eyes are closed. Just the very fact of you thinking something activates the same part of brain as if you are doing it physically.
I'm just curious about what was Hank looking at @5:45
I just made a video on mirror neurons and I’m glad to say we covered basically the same stuff. Word for word sometimes, haha.
Nice self promotion, but it is still self promotion
Botong Lin I thought it was a happy little coincidence, and a little self promotion never hurt :)
My autistic some has difficulty learning by seeing and has the typical autism issue of lack of empathy. I wish they would do more research on this.
Beautiful...productive..mirron neurons helps us to pass SKILLS when we don't have language in primitive homo Sapiens..that is they are hardwire..and learning by speech,language,writing,reading are recent form of communication in evolution..
Thank you
Lol is it wierd I got hypnotized by the dance steps instead of the chick dancing 😂
I learned mode from the kiss curl.
When you see one bird clean it’s self and the others around it start copying it is that from mirror neurons? Even in some stick bugs a percentage of the babies have to see an adult eating leaves to get the idea to eat leaves. Is that another case of mirror neurons doing their job?
Action and the idea of that action ? The latter would technically be present even when done by others. And we need to have neurons for the idea of things somewhere right?
There's a neurologist in Boston with Mirror-Touch synaesthesia; he knows more than what's in this video
5:00 The brain image is not consistent with the script. Marked region is actually inferior part of parietal lobe and inferior frontal lobe. Motor and Sensory regions around the central sulcus and Broca area to be even more accurate. As far as I know, none of these regions are involved in emotional processing. However, Inferior parietal lobule might be, but its location is somewhere different. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferior_parietal_lobule
What does that do to people who observe violence perpetrated by others?
Great question. Made me think, How does how it affect people's perception and processing concerning justification of violence perpetrated by one person or group of people on another.
That would be a good thing to research further (but not on monkeys).
Regardless of if its mirror neurons or something else, we do feel what other people feel to some extent. Question is how, and why it differs so much between people.
Some are way more sensitive to others feeling than the norm or vice versa.
My take on it is that part of the process is learned. Empathic reaction only occur strongly if your brain understands what's going on, and of course there could be many other factors involved.
So if I keep watching Hank I can become a great host too ? :)
this makes a lot of sense when applies to children who learn more from observing the world than actually doing it. i.e. kids who grow up in abusive homes, tend to be abusive as adults.
the old adage: monkey see, monkey do.
I would say mirror neurons have if none, very little implication to empathy. After all phycopaths do have mirror neurons and most of the time are very good at imitating or "understanding" other people's actions
Great video. Science is doing incredible things nowadays...with or without our permission. That's all I will say about that.
Dance dance revolution 😍😍
i wonder if this is why my ADHD feels less severe when im working next to others
good content unprofessionally presented
this guy reminds me of John Green
May be it would be a good idea to measure the mirror neurons activity on a psychopath to determine if they have a causal connection with empathy.
Go this
I have aspergers and my mirror neurons don't function right and I have lower activity in that area. I just wanted to share because I thought it was cool
could the reason that monkeys brain activated differently be because they were thinking about the act of stealing the food from the researcher, whereas the humans were actually preparing for a specific action they were tasked with repeating? Maybe they don't think more generally than humans but are just thinking about a different task at hand.
It's simple: monkey sees action, neuron activation
so will I learn how to move my hands while talking if I watch Hank in this show too much?
Science: "It goes without saying this isn't true"
Also Science: "We need more research to figure this out"
Well are you intent on closing avenues of possibility or exploring them?
They help you reflect on your life decisions
In short...brains are flippin cool😸
That DDR pattern looked very annoying to play
So monkeys might be better at filtering out apparently meaningless ritual, and humans can't stop watching?
so what part of the brain regulates ESP? I've had a lot of stuff go on with me with this stuff in the past couple of years and I really keep it to myself, but I decided to comment today.
esp?
So, the scientists are just throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks.
I'm actually on the autism spectrum, so my mirror neurons don't fire like everyone else's does. I remember playing DDR as a kid, and I always got annoyed by that little person dancing 😂 I just wanted to focus on the arrows lol
Lets just not start with the 3rd eye is now conected to the mirror neurons
EEG=recording of your eye blinking muscles