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Thursday, April 28, 2005

Scientists Say Everyone Can Read Minds - Yahoo! News

"Empathy allows us to feel the emotions of others, to identify and understand their feelings and motives and see things from their perspective. How we generate empathy remains a subject of intense debate in cognitive science.

Some scientists now believe they may have finally discovered its root. We're all essentially mind readers, they say.

The idea has been slow to gain acceptance, but evidence is mounting.

Mirror neurons

In 1996, three neuroscientists were probing the brain of a macaque monkey when they stumbled across a curious cluster of cells in the premotor cortex, an area of the brain responsible for planning movements. The cluster of cells fired not only when the monkey performed an action, but likewise when the monkey saw the same action performed by someone else. The cells responded the same way whether the monkey reached out to grasp a peanut, or merely watched in envy as another monkey or a human did."
(Full article at link)


Mirror neurons. That is a great science fiction sounding term, I will immediately incorporate it into my nonsensical roster of responses I sometimes offer up when someone asks me a question:
Q: "Hey could you help me move this desk?"
A: "No, my mirror neurons can't deal with that right now, maybe later."

Q: "Did you finish the assignment from last Tuesday?"
A: "No. The doctor said I bruised all of my mirror neurons when I fell off my skateboard last week."

Q: "Did you see the look on Constantine's face when that dopey blond kid with the tracheotomy scar beat him out on 'American Idol' last night?"
A: "Yep. I bet his mirron neurons were enviously jonesing for some peanuts."
You get the drift. Mirror neurons rock.

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