mirror neuron system

i must appologize to those who check my blog regularly. we had a test last week, so i took the rest of the week off, sort of, and didn't really learn a whole lot. this last weekend i was rock climbing in red river gorge. so, today marks my return to the books.

what i learned today... pretty amazing, your going to like this one. so when we move our hand, or feel pain in our leg, a certain part of our brain is activated. there are parts of our brain devoted to motor and parts devoted to sensory. (not impressed yet, just wait) so, it turns out that when we watch someone else throw a ball, the same part of their brain that caused them to throw the ball is activated in our brain! we are trying to learn what they did, what they felt, etc. if we see someone break their leg, the same sensory part of our brain is activated as theirs. feeling disgust from smelling a bad ordor and observing disguest in another person activates the same part of the insular cortex. this is termed the "mirror neuron system"

it has been proposed that a malfunctioning mirror neuron system is the cause of symptoms of autistic children. they may understand the intentions of others cognitively but lack the mechanism for understanding them experientially. just my speculation, but i think this might also explain why some people (usually women, and especially moms) are better at empathizing with people. maybe they have a higher developed mirror neuron system?!