Saturday, April 02, 2005

Reflections on mirror neurons

Reflections on mirror neurons
(Baltimore Sun)

In another study, Iacoboni found that subjects who displayed high levels of empathy in a psychological questionnaire fired more mirror neurons when viewing people in emotional states than test subjects whose responses showed less empathy. He plans to present the findings of his empathy study at a conference for autism researchers in Boston this month.

Iacoboni and other neuroscientists believe that mirror neurons were a major factor in our evolutionary development and that as we learn more, their importance to psychology will rival DNA’s role in biology. They argue that being able to read the intentions of others is one achievement that separates us from the great apes.

And sociopaths.

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