The empathy Is a complex skill that allows us to identify and share the emotions felt by other individuals just by observing them. This ability is fundamental for social animals because for a society to function properly it is necessary to understand the thoughts, actions and intentions of others and be able to transmit our own.
Throughout the history have been given multiple definitions to the word empathy, therefore it is convenient to differentiate it from other phenomena with which it is usually confused.
What is empathy?
- The sympathy Would be defined as the ability to feel positive emotions towards other people or negative when we see that they suffer. TO Unlike empathy, feeling sympathy does not mean feeling the same as the individual we observe. For example when a person we feel Sympathy is angry we usually feel sorry and not fury.
- He Emotional contagion Occurs when we feel the same emotion as the person we are observing but do not identify it as Foreign, if not as own. An example of emotional contagion would be the fact that a baby starts to cry when he sees another crying, in that case he does not We would be talking about empathy since the baby is unable to know why he is crying. Fortunately, the emotional contagion usually occurs before Positive emotions , We often feel happy because the people around us are happy.
- The Theory of mind Is the ability to infer what another person is thinking or the intentions that have only to see it and, to Unlike empathy, without sharing their emotions. A good example of the difference between these two phenomena is the behavior of People suffering from a psychopathic personality disorder. These people often have a correct theory of the mind, therefore they are able to Understand what other people think, but do not have a correct empathic capacity, so they are immune to the emotions of others. In other words, they are Able to know what the other person is feeling but do not share that emotion.
If you want to know more about the case of the grandmother killer I recommend that you see this video .
Why do we feel empathy?
In order to be able to feel empathy it is indispensable the correct functioning of two brain regions, the Anterior insula and the Anterior cingulate cortex . These regions are related to the motivation and perception of our own feelings.
The insula Is related to visceral perception, for example the feeling of knot in the stomach when we see another person crying, while the cortex Would be more related to motivation because it plays a fundamental role in identifying errors and Avoid it.
Numerous studies have been carried out throughout history that relate these areas to empathy. One could say that the"mother"of these studies is Tania Singer Who demonstrated in a study with monkeys that when experiencing pain activated the same structures that when seeing another individual Experimenting.
Later, the same author, verified that this effect was also observed in humans. For example in a study with couples recorded brain activity Of the female partner when she received a painful stimulation and when she saw that her partner suffered the same stimulation.
As a result it was verified That in both cases the same areas were activated, the anterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex. In subsequent studies it has been found that these Areas are activated when we see an unknown person suffering and even when we observe videos or photos in which individuals appear with expression Of pain.
Sensory simulation
A very interesting phenomenon also related to empathy is the Sensory simulation , This phenomenon is responsible for We perceive sensory sensations when we see another person who is receiving a sensory stimulus.
In one study it was found that the secondary somatosensory cortex was activated in individuals when they caressed the leg as well as when Watching videos of other people who were also caressed.
Let's do a test, look at the following image:
Have you felt a tickle in your hand or the need to scratch? In that case you just feel a sensory simulation.
What are mirror neurons?
In order to feel empathy, the Mirror neurons , These neurons are activated equally when we perform an action and when We see that another person is performing it. So when we see a person performing an action our brain behaves like a mirror Imitating mentally the individual we are observing, hence its name.
The discovery of mirror neurons was one of the most important of the twentieth century for the field of neuroscience. These types of neurons were Discovered accidentally in 1980 by two Italian researchers, Rizzolati and Pellegrino.
These investigators tried to monitor the neuronal mechanisms that were activated when performing a motor action, for this they registered the activity Neuron with electrodes of a monkey while it picked peanuts and ate it.
At one point during the experiment one of the investigators tone Or a peanut and ate it, imagine his surprise to discover that the monkey had been activated the same brain areas as in doing it himself, Specifically the F5 area of the premotor ventral cortex. So it could be said that mirror neurons were discovered thanks to the appetite of one of the
Researchers.
In subsequent research it has been found that it is not necessary to see another individual performing an action for these neurons to activate, it is enough Listen to or infer that this action is being performed.
Given the above description, it might appear that mirror neurons are only responsible for motor simulation, but thanks to them we can know what is Making a person and why he is doing it, ie what is his goal.
For example, in a study carried out by Iacoboni, it was observed that if images of people were shown performing the same action, they would take a glass, but with Different context, dishes dirty or clean, the study participants attributed different intentions to the actions. In the case of dirty dishes They inferred that the intention was to collect the glass and in the context of the clean dishes it was inferred that the intention was to drink.
Where are mirror neurons located?
In humans, mirror neurons have been found in the motor area F5, area 44 of Brodmann (part of the premotor cortex), and in the posterior parietal cortex. These regions are not directly connected, they do it through the upper temporal furrow, structure with which they communicate in a bidirectional way, Ie send and receive information.
Brodmann area 44, which is part of the Broca area Involved in the motor production of speech, would serve to know the objective of the Action, while the lower parietal cortex would be in charge of codifying the movements necessary to perform such action. In said circuit The upper temporal groove would act as a nexus between the two structures and would not have"mirror"properties.
When do mirror neurons develop?
Apparently our mirror neurons are active from birth since the imitation behaviors are innate and can be observed from very old ages Early
The mirror neurons develop as the individual grows, so that imitation behaviors are gradually being perfected through Of experience. That is to say, a greater experience with a specific behavior, greater activation of the mirror neurons and greater refinement of the simulation.
The evolutionary value of mirror neurons is evident since they facilitate learning through observation as well as the transmission of information, according Ramachandran "[...] it is as if these neurons are adopting the perspective of the other, it is as if they were realizing a simulation of reality Virtual action of another person".
For example, in a study conducted by Buccino in 2004, it was observed that by practically imitating the guitar, the mirror neurons of the Musicians who had played guitar before that of people who had never played guitar.
If you want to know more about empathy or want to learn how to be more empathetic I recommend that you visit this article .
References
- Antonella, C., & Antonietti, A. (2013). Mirror neurons and their function in cognitively understood empathy. Consciousness and Cognition, 1152-1161.
- Carlson, N. R. (2010). Control of Movement. In N. R. Carlson, Physiology of Behavior (pp. 280-282). Boston: Pearson.
- Carmona, S. (2014). Social Cognition. In Redolar, Cognitive Neuroscience (pp. 702-706). Madrid: PANAMERICAN MEDICAL.
- Lamma, C., & Majdandzic, J. (2014). The role of shared neural activations, mirror neurons, and morality in empathy - A critical comment. Neuroscience Research, 15-24.
- Singer, T., Seymour, B., O'Doherty, J., Kaube, H., Dolan, R., & Frith, C. (2004). Empathy for Pain Involves the Affective but Not Sensory Components of Pain. Science, 466-469.