Guest guest Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 Hi, " Sam " - " This is fabulous! " one of the many marte's wanted to say and then another of 'em remembered how often some of 'em winced at people speaking -- as some good-natured (but need I mention also, of course _erudite_) ?jungians? used to put this: " ex cathedra " . [:-( :-)]. In the " here-and-now " of where I sit and when I'm typing these virtual reality words into a bunch of wires and microchips (there she goes again ... another of the too-many " marte's " ... on one of her Verschluggende RANTS!!!???), it's Tuesday, January 10, half-past- noon; still early in this ?new? year?. Oldfashioned commonsense (was there ever either one or possibly even both?) would say I oughta being doing something -- maybe even almost _anything_ other than sitting where I'm sitting and typing " virtual reality " words (never mind what those might or might not represent or suggest [much less empathise to or with other peoples' (or other species') mirror brain neurons?!}, but this is the where and the how of this particular marte at this particular moment; _pushing_, a bit, against time and other Grim Reaper images.... This " New Year(?'s) " has for me been going sort of both slower and faster than usual -- by which what I guess I mean is that subjectively I've undertaken what feels like a kind of major step in defining my own subjective sense of time because of a sort of quiet and mostly private acknowledgment (few celebrations) of my " quarter- of-a-century " birthday early last month. Many thunks about that ( " thoughts and feelings " , for those of all of " you guys " who like or need to parse the two in the traditions of some of Jung's published works [*]). I'm pretty tired this particular Tuesday morning but I'm also full of (hello Toni and others who've enjoyed this double thread) " Surprise [d]/ by Joy " ! Partly [the bear-that-wants-to-hibernate " marte " ?! :-)], I kind of feel I'd love to not have to think or plan or initiate anything until, say, next April or thereabouts? But my stern January Capricorn [and all the ghosts of my many Uncle Calvin relatives and ancestors Toni keeps scolding me about :- )]? " marte " is sitting here batting at this somewhat shabby computer keyboard to " fight back " .... For starters, Sam (and anyone else around this " camp fire " or others sending smoke signals one to another), to explore starting a new list. As a kind, maybe, of individual-assembly offshoot? a mitosis? _Not_ as something competitive to/with any of the existing lists, but as maybe just a kind of rearrangement among some of us? Well, it's not yet even midweek of the only second week of this year [and I'm " celebrating " (??!!) by having, tomorrow morning, my first- in-several years " Annual Physical " (which: Old Geezers, please note: Medicare will _NOT_ pay for!)], so this [ " skuza pliz " :-)] overly garrulous (sp?) rambling post is a preliminary inquiry -- a casting of fish lines into the waters? -- to see who might have overlapping interests. Anyone interested, please write me offlist at marte@... And alongside that [of course :-)] Happy New Year [still :-)] to all the JUNG-FIRE campfire sitters, bookworms, declarers, investigators, & ... pick your own self-descriptions! :-) " love and joy " [marte's still unexplained " Ben Shahn " greeting :-)] > > Cells That Read Minds > By SANDRA BLAKESLEE > On a hot summer day 15 years ago in Parma, Italy, a monkey sat in a special > laboratory chair waiting for researchers to return from lunch. Thin wires had > been implanted in the region of its brain involved in planning and carrying > out movements. > > > Every time the monkey grasped and moved an object, some cells in that brain > region would fire, and a monitor would register a sound: brrrrrip, brrrrrip, > brrrrrip. > > > A graduate student entered the lab with an ice cream cone in his hand. The > monkey stared at him. Then, something amazing happened: when the student > raised the cone to his lips, the monitor sounded - brrrrrip, brrrrrip, brrrrrip - > even though the monkey had not moved but had simply observed the student > grasping the cone and moving it to his mouth. > > > The researchers, led by Giacomo Rizzolatti, a neuroscientist at the > University of Parma, had earlier noticed the same strange phenomenon with peanuts. > The same brain cells fired when the monkey watched humans or other monkeys > bring peanuts to their mouths as when the monkey itself brought a peanut to its > mouth. > > > Later, the scientists found cells that fired when the monkey broke open a > peanut or heard someone break a peanut. The same thing happened with bananas, > raisins and all kinds of other objects. > > > " It took us several years to believe what we were seeing, " Dr. Rizzolatti > said in a recent interview. The monkey brain contains a special class of cells, > called mirror neurons, that fire when the animal sees or hears an action and > when the animal carries out the same action on its own. > > > But if the findings, published in 1996, surprised most scientists, recent > research has left them flabbergasted. Humans, it turns out, have mirror neurons > that are far smarter, more flexible and more highly evolved than any of > those found in monkeys, a fact that scientists say reflects the evolution of > humans' sophisticated social abilities. > > > The human brain has multiple mirror neuron systems that specialize in > carrying out and understanding not just the actions of others but their intentions, > the social meaning of their behavior and their emotions. > > > " We are exquisitely social creatures, " Dr. Rizzolatti said. " Our survival > depends on understanding the actions, intentions and emotions of others. " > > > He continued, " Mirror neurons allow us to grasp the minds of others not > through conceptual reasoning but through direct simulation. By feeling, not by > thinking. " > > > The discovery is shaking up numerous scientific disciplines, shifting the > understanding of culture, empathy, philosophy, language, imitation, autism and > psychotherapy. > > > Everyday experiences are also being viewed in a new light. Mirror neurons > reveal how children learn, why people respond to certain types of sports, > dance, music and art, why watching media violence may be harmful and why many men > like pornography. > > > How can a single mirror neuron or system of mirror neurons be so incredibly > smart? > > > Most nerve cells in the brain are comparatively pedestrian. Many specialize > in detecting ordinary features of the outside world. Some fire when they > encounter a horizontal line while others are dedicated to vertical lines. Others > detect a single frequency of sound or a direction of movement. > > > Moving to higher levels of the brain, scientists find groups of neurons that > detect far more complex features like faces, hands or expressive body > language. Still other neurons help the body plan movements and assume complex > postures. > > > Mirror neurons make these complex cells look like numbskulls. Found in > several areas of the brain - including the premotor cortex, the posterior parietal > lobe, the superior temporal sulcus and the insula - they fire in response to > chains of actions linked to intentions. > > > Studies show that some mirror neurons fire when a person reaches for a glass > or watches someone else reach for a glass; others fire when the person puts > the glass down and still others fire when the person reaches for a toothbrush > and so on. They respond when someone kicks a ball, sees a ball being kicked, > hears a ball being kicked and says or hears the word " kick. " > > > " When you see me perform an action - such as picking up a baseball - you > automatically simulate the action in your own brain, " said Dr. Marco Iacoboni, a > neuroscientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who studies > mirror neurons. " Circuits in your brain, which we do not yet entirely > understand, inhibit you from moving while you simulate, " he said. " But you understand > my action because you have in your brain a template for that action based on > your own movements. > > > " When you see me pull my arm back, as if to throw the ball, you also have in > your brain a copy of what I am doing and it helps you understand my goal. > Because of mirror neurons, you can read my intentions. You know what I am going > to do next. " > > > He continued: " And if you see me choke up, in emotional distress from > striking out at home plate, mirror neurons in your brain simulate my distress. You > automatically have empathy for me. You know how I feel because you literally > feel what I am feeling. " > > > Mirror neurons seem to analyzed scenes and to read minds. If you see someone > reach toward a bookshelf and his hand is out of sight, you have little doubt > that he is going to pick up a book because your mirror neurons tell you so. > > > In a study published in March 2005 in Public Library of Science, Dr. > Iacoboni and his colleagues reported that mirror neurons could discern if another > person who was picking up a cup of tea planned to drink from it or clear it > from the table. " Mirror neurons provide a powerful biological foundation for the > evolution of culture, " said Greenfield, a psychologist at the > U.C.L.A. who studies human development. > > > Until now, scholars have treated culture as fundamentally separate from > biology, she said. " But now we see that mirror neurons absorb culture directly, > with each generation teaching the next by social sharing, imitation and > observation. " > > > Other animals - monkeys, probably apes and possibly elephants, dolphins and > dogs - have rudimentary mirror neurons, several mirror neuron experts said. > But humans, with their huge working memory, carry out far more sophisticated > imitations. > > > Language is based on mirror neurons, according to Arbib, a > neuroscientist at the University of Southern California. One such system, found in the > front of the brain, contains overlapping circuitry for spoken language and > sign language. > > > In an article published in Trends in Neuroscience in March 1998, Dr. Arbib > described how complex hand gestures and the complex tongue and lip movements > used in making sentences use the same machinery. Autism, some researchers > believe, may involve broken mirror neurons. A study published in the Jan. 6 issue > of Nature Neuroscience by Mirella Dapretto, a neuroscientist at U.C.L.A., > found that while many people with autism can identify an emotional expression, > like sadness, on another person's face, or imitate sad looks with their own > faces, they do not feel the emotional significance of the imitated emotion. > From observing other people, they do not know what it feels like to be sad, > angry, disgusted or surprised. > > > Mirror neurons provide clues to how children learn: they kick in at birth. > Dr. Meltzoff at the University of Washington has published studies > showing that infants a few minutes old will stick out their tongues at adults > doing the same thing. More than other primates, human children are hard-wired > for imitation, he said, their mirror neurons involved in observing what others > do and practicing doing the same things. > > > Still, there is one caveat, Dr. Iacoboni said. Mirror neurons work best in > real life, when people are face to face. Virtual reality and videos are > shadowy substitutes. > > > Nevertheless, a study in the January 2006 issue of Media Psychology found > that when children watched violent television programs, mirror neurons, as well > as several brain regions involved in aggression were activated, increasing > the probability that the children would behave violently. > > > The ability to share the emotions of others appears to be intimately linked > to the functioning of mirror neurons, said Dr. Christian Keysers, who studies > the neural basis of empathy at the University of Groningen in the > Netherlands and who has published several recent articles on the topic in Neuron. > > > When you see someone touched in a painful way, your own pain areas are > activated, he said. When you see a spider crawl up someone's leg, you feel a > creepy sensation because your mirror neurons are firing. > > > People who rank high on a scale measuring empathy have particularly active > mirror neurons systems, Dr. Keysers said. > > > Social emotions like guilt, shame, pride, embarrassment, disgust and lust > are based on a uniquely human mirror neuron system found in a part of the brain > called the insula, Dr. Keysers said. In a study not yet published, he found > that when people watched a hand go forward to caress someone and then saw > another hand push it away rudely, the insula registered the social pain of > rejection. Humiliation appears to be mapped in the brain by the same mechanisms > that encode real physical pain, he said. > > > Psychotherapists are understandably enthralled by the discovery of mirror > neurons, said Dr. Siegel, the director of the Center for Human > Development in Los Angeles and the author of " Parenting From the Inside Out, " because > they provide a possible neurobiological basis for the psychological > mechanisms known as transference and countertransference. > > > In transference, clients " transfer " feelings about important figures in > their lives onto a therapist. Similarly, in countertransference, a therapist's > reactions to a client are shaped by the therapist's own earlier relationships. > > > Therapists can use their own mirror system to understand a client's problems > and to generate empathy, he said. And they can help clients understand that > many of their experiences stem from what other people have said or done to > them in the past. > > > Art exploits mirror neurons, said Dr. Vittorio Gallese, a neuroscientist at > Parma University. When you see the Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini's > hand of divinity grasping marble, you see the hand as if it were grasping > flesh, he said. Experiments show that when you read a novel, you memorize > positions of objects from the narrator's point of view. > > > Professional athletes and coaches, who often use mental practice and > imagery, have long exploited the brain's mirror properties perhaps without knowing > their biological basis, Dr. Iacoboni said. Observation directly improves > muscle performance via mirror neurons. > > > Similarly, millions of fans who watch their favorite sports on television > are hooked by mirror neuron activation. In someone who has never played a sport > - say tennis - the mirror neurons involved in running, swaying and swinging > the arms will be activated, Dr. Iacoboni said. > > > But in someone who plays tennis, the mirror systems will be highly activated > when an overhead smash is observed. Watching a game, that person will be > better able to predict what will happen next, he said. > > > In yet another realm, mirror neurons are powerfully activated by > pornography, several scientists said. For example, when a man watches another man have > sexual intercourse with a woman, the observer's mirror neurons spring into > action. The vicarious thrill of watching sex, it turns out, is not so vicarious > after all. > > > See Photo and Slide Show: > > http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/10/science/10mirr.html > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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