At last, from the frontiers of science comes an explanation for that long-recognized phenomenon of “monkey see-monkey do.”

Researchers in Parma, Italy, were studying the brain activity of monkeys. They recorded neuron activity when the monkeys reached for a peanut. The scientists were attempting to learn which areas of the brain would be stimulated by this simple activity.

Quite by accident, they discovered something else. A scientist reached for a peanut himself as one of the monkeys looked on. The technician watching the PET scan was astonished to record the same brain activity. Watching the researcher reach for the peanut elicited exactly the same movements in the same areas of the brain as when the monkey reached for the peanut himself.

This discovery launched a more significant study of these areas on both sides of our brain, which not only are stimulated when we do something but also stimulated in exactly the same way when we observe someone else do that thing. And what they have found is that the same phenomenon happens to far greater extent in humans than it does in our furry distant relatives.

“Mirror neurons” record the images we see. They provide the brain architecture that supports, on a cellular level, the actual recording in our brains of those things we observe others doing, as if we are doing them ourselves.

So if I watch you tie your shoes, I store that experience in my brain in the same way as if I had done it. If I look into your sad face, I record that same feeling of sadness as if it were my tragedy instead of yours. If I watch you striving to carry a heavy load, I experience that same struggle myself and may set my mouth just right to “help” you with the exertion.

Mirror neurons explain the mechanism for empathy, compassion, social learning and more. And for those of us interested in the experiences of children, they remind us once again of the importance of the environment on brain development.

As a child watches an adult perform an act of compassion, he experiences compassion, even if he had no responsibility for the act itself. He feels what it’s like to help a neighbor or speak a kind word.

Unfortunately, it also means that when a child observes an act of violence, he stores that action inside himself, also as if he had committed the act. Biologically, he has built a history in his brain of what it is to behave violently.

Researchers studying the mirror system say it is further evidence that we are intensely social creatures, looking for ways to connect. We are designed to learn from each other. It’s the way we find out how to comb our hair or hold a spoon or pat a dog.

More importantly, mirror neurons are what teach us how to respect others and demonstrate that respect through our behavior.

What we tell our kids is certainly important. Talking to them about our values and expectations helps them to build their own moral code.

But one day, we’ll see what they really learned from us. We will observe the behavior that was being recorded all the time by their mirror neurons, when we didn’t know we were teaching them anything at all.

Source Herald & Review, IL
http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2008/06/28/columnists/quigg/1033710.txt