What are mirror neurons and what are they for?

Emotions are contagious. It is enough to observe a mother with her baby in her arms. When the mother smiles, her son does too. The same goes for football fans when their team scores a goal: the stadium fills with joy and the uproar spreads through the stands.

Emotions, despite being invisible, spread as if they were a virus. It is a primitive process that acts in sync with everyone around us and that adapts us to living in society, since human beings are social beings by nature. For many years, many scientists have wondered why these "perfect" connections are established between humans.

Mirror neurons seem like they may have the answer to all of this. They are a type of neurons that are strictly related to the capacity for empathy and interpersonal communication. It has been more than 20 years since they were discovered and with them it was possible to establish scientific bases that allowed us to identify and understand why emotions can be so contagious.

The knowledge of mirror neurons has created a before and after in the field of neuroscience and psychology. It is not surprising, because it seems that behind them lie the keys to better understand how the brain works and learns. In today's article we will introduce you to mirror neurons in order to understand what functions they perform.

• We recommend you read: "Differences between emotions and feelings: how to distinguish them?"

What are neurons?

Our nervous system is mainly made up of neurons, highly specialized cells that are responsible for transmit information using electrical impulses. In fact, in just 1 cubic millimeter of brain tissue, which would be equivalent to a grain of coarse salt, there are up to a million. Neurons are not isolated; just the opposite, they establish an extensive three-dimensional network full of contacts and branches throughout the body

A typical neuron is made up of a cell body, in which the nucleus with the genetic material is found. The cell body has a series of very short and numerous processes called dendrites. These, which give the neuron the appearance of a tree with many branches, allow it to establish connections with other neurons. On the other hand, a very long extension arises from the same cell body: the axon, which enables a neuron to connect with the dendrites of another neuron.

As dendrites form a highly branched network, each neuron can receive many axons, and consequently be connected to many other neurons. These connections are called synapses and it is estimated that each neuron, in median, can establish synapse with 1,000 more neurons. If the data is extrapolated, the total count of neural connections in our brain can rise to the high number of a few trillion, which forms the basis of the complicated neural networks that build our mind.

In the body, there are different types of neurons depending on their morphology, location or the function they perform. Today we will talk about a group of neurons: mirror neurons, which play a fundamental role in learning, empathy and social relationships.

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And mirror neurons... What are they?

It was the year 1995 and the research team of Giacomo Rizzolatti, a renowned Italian neurobiologist, was studying the functioning of macaque motor neurons when he made a surprising finding. The aim of the experiment was to evaluate the electrical impulses of motor neurons when these apes peeled and ate a banana.

As they explain, at one point, a researcher became hungry and ate a banana. The surprise was great. In the macaque's brain the same routes were activated that were activated when it was he who ate the banana. That is, they accurately reflected what he saw the researcher doing as if he were doing it. This is how they discovered mirror neurons, that they decided to call them that because of their ability to reflect the actions of others.

Therefore, mirror neurons are a typology of neurons that are activated when we carry out an action, but also when we observe someone doing or feeling something. Faced with this situation, they are activated in our mind, reflecting as if we were carrying out that action or having that feeling.

For example, it has been observed that when, in a conference, the speaker is telling a story with a very high emotional component, mirror neurons cause the people connect in a very close way with history.a, causing viewers' attention level to skyrocket as well.

What functions do mirror neurons have?

In people, these neurons are distributed throughout many regions of the brain, especially in the motor cortex, but also in areas that manage empathy, decision-making, emotional control and motivation. They are also present in vital areas for language and for the development of imitative behaviors. Thus, their activation allows us to deduce what others think, feel or do, since they are specialized in understanding not only our behavior, but that of others.

1. They allow us to anticipate actions

We are social beings, therefore, understand and learn from the actions of others is essential. In the first place, mirror neurons allow us to transform visual information into knowledge about the intention behind the actions of others.

That is, if our brain is activated in the same way when we do one action as when we see it done in another person, just by seeing a piece of the action we can deduce how it will end and we can anticipate their intentions end. Therefore, mirror neurons allow understanding that intentions can be understood. The development of these neurons is believed to begin at 3 months of age.

2. They allow us to learn

It is known that we learn mainly by the mechanism of imitation. Mirror neurons are fundamental to imitation, since they are activated both when seeing another person perform an action or if we experience it on our own flesh.

The link between mirror neurons and imitation is so great that, without them, the way of imitating would change completely. Through these neurons we learn to walk or ride a bicycle, even before standing upright or sitting on a tricycle. It is so extraordinary, that when we try it for the first time, our brain already knows which neurons it has to connect to perform those movements. Obviously, our movements will be rather clumsy at first, but it is something that children learn very quickly. This implies that the brain already knew what to do.

3. They facilitate non-verbal communication

Mirror neurons also play a role in the communication process, which are activated when you speak and when you listen. They are essential in the control and interpretation of gestures and movements accompanying the speech. These neurons detect facial gestures and intervene in their interpretation and imitation, helping non-verbal communication.

4. They give us empathy

Empathy is the ability to identify with someone and put yourself in the shoes of the other, therefore, As its name indicates, mirror neurons allow us to create a kind of reflection in our inside.

These neurons automatically interpret the expressions of others, informing us of how they feel. In this way, we can intuit or deduce what others feel or think, something essential for social relationships. This happens because the regions that contain mirror neurons are connected to the parts responsible for emotions, such as the limbic system. These neurons are what allow us to understand what our child means when he is afraid of the dark, and without them we could not get excited watching a movie.

The aptitude for empathy develops throughout life, from neural systems, which store information and experiences about our own moods. In this way, your own experiences are basic to understand what others feel. Our emotional life it is the basis for understanding and sharing emotions with other people. Therefore, it could be said that empathy has an innate component but that it is also susceptible to socialization and education.

• We recommend you read: "The 15 psychological differences between men and women"

Mirror neurons and autism spectrum disorder

Seeing that mirror neurons play a role in social interactions, some scientists hypothesize that they may be related to autism spectrum disorders. People with an autism spectrum disorder have more difficulties understanding the minds of others and it has been seen that in some cases, these neurons do not function at full capacity.

For example, it has been observed that in children with autism, when they are shown photos with facial expressions, the neural pathways that are activated can be totally different than expected. They understand the photos from a cognitive point of view, but the typical “empathic” pathways of the brain are not activated. For this reason, some therapeutic interventions for these disorders revolve around imitation with the aim of exercising mirror neurons.

• We recommend you read: "The 4 types of Autism (and their characteristics)"

Bibliographic references

• Giraldo Torres, L. R., Restrepo de Mejía, F., Arboleda Sánchez, V. TO. (2018). "Autism spectrum disorder, electroencephalography and mirror neurons". Acta Neurológica Colombiana, 34 (3), 215-222.
• Iacoboni, M. (2009). "Mirror neurons: Empathy, neuropolitics, autism, imitation, or how we understand others." Katz editors.
• Rizzolatti, G. (2005). "Mirror neurons put you in the place of the other." The country. Madrid.