Mirror neurons: towards understanding civilization

Years ago, one of the most important discoveries in the history of neuroscience occurred by chance that changed our understanding of how the brain works: mirror neurons. The mirror neurons they participate in processes such as learning complex behaviors through observation (also called vicarious learning) and understanding the behavior of others through empathy.

Thus, the investigation of these neurons has become one of the fundamental pillars to understand phenomena such as the implication of empathy in the development of social skills, the construction of cultural schemes and how it is transmitted through generations and how behaviors are generated from the understanding of the behaviour.

Serendipity: The Unexpected Discovery of Mirror Neurons

In 1996, Giacomo Rizzolatti worked together with Leonardo Fogassi and Vottorio Gallese in the investigation of the functioning of the motor neurons in the frontal cortex of the macaque monkey during the execution of the movement of the hands when grasping or stacking objects. For his research, they used electrodes placed in the areas where these neurons are located recording how they were activated while the monkey performed a behavior such as grabbing pieces of food.

Rizzolatti he remembers that "when Fogassi, standing next to a fruit bowl, took a banana, we observed that some of the monkey's neurons reacted, but how could this happen if the animal hadn't moved? At first we thought it was an error in our measurement technique or perhaps an equipment failure; then we checked that everything was working well and that the neuron's reactions occurred every time we repeated the movement, while the macaque was observing it ”. Thus it was that, as has happened with many other discoveries, mirror neurons were found by chance, a serendipity.

What are mirror neurons?

The mirror neurons They are a type of neurons that are activated when executing an action and when the same action is observed by another individual. They are highly specialized neurons in understanding the behavior of others, and not just understanding it. from the intellectual perspective, but also allows us to connect with the emotions that are manifested in the other. So much so that, in this way, we can feel completely moved when observing a beautiful love scene in a movie, such as the passionate kiss between two people.

Or, on the contrary, feel sad when observing many of the scenes that the news shows us daily or newspapers about unpleasant situations that people experience, such as wars or natural disasters in regions of the world. When we see that someone suffers or feels pain, mirror neurons help us to read that person's facial expression and, specifically, make us feel that suffering or that pain.

The amazing thing about mirror neurons is that it is an experience like simulation in virtual reality of the action of the other person. In this way, mirror neurons are closely linked to imitation and emulation. Because to imitate the behavior of another person, the brain needs to be able to adopt the perspective of that other person.

What is the importance of mirror neurons?

Knowing the functioning of this system of specialized neurons in understanding the behavior of others has a great relevance, since it allows us to make hypotheses to investigate and understand many of the social phenomena and individual. And when talking about these phenomena, I am not only referring to those that currently occur, but also to how they started and developed to throughout the history of the evolution of man the abilities and skills that we possess today, such as the use of tools, the use of language and the transmission of knowledge and habits that constitute the foundations of our cultures today.

The beginning of civilization

This is where we find the contributions of the neurologist from India V. S. Ramachandran, who defends the relevance of mirror neurons in understanding the beginning of civilization. To understand it, we must go back in time to 75,000 years ago, one of the key moments in human evolution, where the sudden appearance and rapid spread of a series of skills: the use of tools, fire, shelters and, of course, language, and the ability to read what someone is thinking and interpret the behavior of that person. Although the human brain had reached its current size almost 300 to 400 thousand years ago, it was only about 100,000 years ago that these abilities appeared and spread.

In this way, Ramachandran considers that he does 75,000 years This sophisticated system of mirror neurons emerged that made it possible to emulate and imitate the behavior of other people. Therefore, when a member of the group accidentally discovered something, such as the use of fire or a certain type of tool, instead of gradually disappear, spread rapidly, horizontally, through the population and was transmitted vertically through the generations.

In this way, we can see that the human being develops a qualitative and quantitative leap within his evolution, since through learning by observation, emulation and imitation of behaviors, human beings can acquire behaviors that other species take thousands of years to develop. This is how Ramachandrán illustrates us with the following example of how this occurs: "A polar bear will take thousands of generations (perhaps 100,000 years) to develop its fur. However, a human being, a child, can see his parents kill a polar bear, skin him and put the skin on his body, and he learns it in one step. What the polar bear took 100,000 years to learn, he learns in a few minutes. And once he learns it this spreads in geometric proportions within a population. " This is the basis for understanding how culture and civilization began and developed. The imitation of complex skills is what we call culture and is the basis of civilization.

Understanding Civilization - Expanding the Paradigm of Science

Through this hypothesis developed by Ramachandran we can understand many of the social phenomena that occur in our cultures, as well as the realization of why we are essentially human beings social. The discovery of mirror neurons opens a space for the relationship between neurosciences and the humanities, by bringing to the fore issues of relevance related to leadership, human relations, culture and the transmission by generations of habits that make our culture.

Continuing to investigate mirror neurons not only allows us to expand the scientific paradigm in order to understand culture and phenomena It also helps us to develop therapeutic methods within the field of psychology and psychiatry that may be more effective.

The human brain remains unknown and contains many mysteries about its functioning at the level global, but we are getting closer and closer to understanding the complex processes that identify the human being. Through research like these we can reach conclusions that travel from reductionism to a more accurate and global vision, with the objective of understanding why we are the way we are and the influence of brain processes in society and how culture also shapes our brain.

As well said Antonio Damassio in his book "Descartes's Error”:

"To discover that a certain feeling depends on the activity of several specific brain systems that interact with various organs of the body does not diminish the condition of this feeling as a phenomenon human. Neither the anguish nor the exaltation that love or art can provide are devalued by knowing some of the innumerable biological processes that make them as they are. It should precisely be the other way around: our ability to wonder should be increased by the intricate mechanisms that make such magic possible”.