What are mirror neurons – A key to understanding the brain

Mirror neurons are a little known phenomena that was discovered about 20 years ago in a lab studying Macaque monkeys. There has been a lot of talk about what they are and what the implications for this function of the brain is, but we should 'science' this one and go to the source of the discovery for more information. According to the National Institute of Health website:

“Mirror neurons are a class of neuron that modulate their activity both when an individual executes a specific motor act and when they observe the same or similar act performed by another individual.” 1

This discovery brings to light many aspects of consciousness and cognition. It suggests that we understand others by simulating the experience we percieve of them, in our own brains. Another way to say it is that the way that we interpret the actions of others requires our own brains' circuitry to be involved. Although all the regions of the brain have not been fully studied in humans, the activity of mirror neurons has been directly observed in monkeys, humans and birds. Some researchers think that it is integral to learning by imitation and that they are important for language and even human emotions such as empathy. Research shows that the mirror neuron system is developed before 12 months of age and helps infants understand other peoples actions.

Further studies connect mirror neurons to understanding intentions, firing more or less dependent on the goal of the action, which could lead to learning facilitation. This mirror neuron function allows us to simulate the action to collect for future application due to an associative learning process.

This has opened up research into imitation, mimicry, language, self awareness, empathy, learning and music in the brain and how neurons are affected. This knowledge, that your brain is symapthetically syncing with others around you as you percieve them, is important to mental health. It shows that we should be mindful of what we are mentally consuming and seeing, as not to entrain our brain in an undesirable thought.

I have had the experience of nightmares after a horror movie, and perhaps that is because of the power of the mirror neurons, getting imprinted with the information, and then reliving the experience, as could be dreams in general.

There is much to be explored in the arena of the brain and human consciousness. I tend to think of it as a giant bio-crystal, similar to what engineers at google just discovered in the form of a 'memory crystal'. It could be that mirror neurons are the gateway to creating a full AI, as it is likely that they help to create an operating system of the brain, by gathering outside and novel signals to start processing.

Mirror neurons also indicate how important it is to surround yourself with the best friends and things that make you happy, as that will reinforce the strength of your bonds through stronger and stronger neuron signals in the openness and love of your relationships. There are several commercial brainwave entrainment devices that can help to calm the mind and may help in the day to day by helping to reset or quiet the mirror neurons from the days many activites and scripts.

Our brains are amazing biological creations. There is new and exciting research that indicates we are always in vibration with others through this mirror neuron system, the understanding of which may be a gateway to fully understandng the human brain.

1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3898692/

2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_neuron