As the saying goes, when sorrow is shared, it lessens, and when joy is shared, it grows. But the question is—why do happiness or sorrow spread among many people like a contagious disease? Scientists from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam, after studying mice, discovered that a special type of neuron called the “empathic mirror neuron” makes it possible to feel another’s physical pain.
Long before this, it was discovered in macaque monkeys that when a monkey performs a task or observes another monkey or human performing the same task, specific neurons in the monkey’s brain are activated in both cases. These neurons were termed “empathic mirror neurons” or simply “mirror neurons.” They are found throughout various parts of the brains of monkeys, humans, and many other animals. When observing others’ movements, gestures, or different emotion-related facial expressions, these neurons simulate in the observer’s brain the same patterns of activity found in the other’s brain, much like “virtual reality.”
The most astonishing fact is that, whether experiencing physical pain or observing another’s physical pain, the same part of the brain is activated in both mice and humans. This area is called the “anterior cingulate cortex,” whose mirror neurons are active both when directly experiencing physical pain and when observing another’s physical suffering. However, during the direct experience of pain, the list of active neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex also includes some neurons that are not mirror neurons.
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