Mirror neurons of the brain or how a thought puts a patient on his feet

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The scientist, who revealed to mankind the secret of mirror neurons, told how to improve mutual understanding between people, as well as about new approaches to the treatment of stroke and autism.

Giacomo Risolatti is an Italian neuroscientist born in 1937. Graduated from the University of Padua. In 1992, Professor Risolatti made a revolutionary discovery that revolutionized psychology and other brain sciences. Mirror neurons have been discovered - unique brain cells that are activated when we follow the actions of other people. These cells, like a mirror, automatically "reflect" someone else's behavior in our head and allow us to feel what is happening as if we were performing actions ourselves. Now Giacomo Risolatti is the head of the Institute of Neurology at the University of Parma and is an honorary doctor of the St. Petersburg State University.

EXPERIENCE WITH A GLASS OF WATER

- Look: I take a glass of water in my hand, - Professor Risolatti unexpectedly begins our interview. - You understand that I took the glass, right? But not at all because they managed to remember all the laws of physics and analyze: they say, there is a force of gravity, I oppose it, etc. Understanding my action is born in you instantly thanks to mirror neurons - special cells in our brain that automatically, subconsciously recognize the action that we see. I will say more: if you could scan your brain now, we would notice that when you saw my action, the same neurons were activated in you, as if you yourself took a glass in your hand.

But that's not all. Once in France they conducted an experiment: one group of volunteers was asked to portray different emotions - joy, sadness; they gave me a sniff of something unpleasant, and disgust showed on my face. People were photographed. And then they showed the images to another group of subjects and recorded their reactions. What do you think? At the sight of the corresponding emotions in the photographs, the volunteers' brains activated the same neurons as if they themselves, for example, smelled rotten eggs, heard the good news, or were saddened by something. This experience is one of the confirmations that in addition to the "action" mirror neurons - they are called motor neurons, there are also emotional mirror neurons. It is they who help us subconsciously, without any mental analysis, and seeing only facial expressions and gestures, to understand the emotions of another person. This happens because thanks to the "reflection" in the brain, we ourselves begin to experience the same sensations.

INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE DO NOT ENOUGH NEURONS?

- But all people are different: there are very sympathetic, sensitive. And there are callous and indifferent, whom, it seems, you cannot get through with anything. Perhaps nature has cheated them with emotional mirror neurons?

- Unlikely. The brain is not that simple. In addition to mirror neurons, our consciousness and will certainly work - with their help, we can partially extinguish those feelings and emotions that appear due to the action of mirror neurons.

And an even greater role is played by social norms adopted in society. If society supports the ideology of selfishness, individualism: take care of yourself, your own health, material wealth, then you have to be selfish, because it is believed that this will lead to success. In this case, the role of your system of mirror neurons is reduced by volitional effort, upbringing, and habitual behavior.

Motivation matters a lot. By the way, in many religions there is a principle: love others as you love yourself. Do not think that such a principle originated from God - in fact, this is a natural rule that reflects the biological structure of a person and is based on the work of mirror neurons. If you do not love people, then it will be very difficult to live in society. Meanwhile, in Western societies, especially in recent centuries, there was a period of a strictly individualistic approach. Now, for example, Italy, France, Germany are returning to the understanding that social life is no less important than personal.

DO NOT BE OFFENSE TO MEN

- If we still talk about the differences in the structure of the brain, then it is noticed that women have more mirror neurons in the emotional system than men, continues the professor. - This explains the higher ability of women to understand and empathize. There were experiments when volunteers of both sexes were shown someone in a state of pain, suffering - the female brain reacted much stronger than the male. It happened as a result of evolution: it is important for nature that it is the mother, who spends the most time with the child, to be emotionally open, empathize, rejoice, and thereby, according to the mirror principle, help develop emotions for the baby.

- It turns out that it is pointless to accuse men of being insensitive and take offense at them?

- Yes, you don't need to take offense at us (laughs). This is nature. By the way, there is another curious experiment showing the difference between men and women. A game is organized: let's say I play with you against someone third, and then you start to play against me on purpose, to cheat. In this case, I, a man, will become terribly angry, while a woman considers such behavior to be an innocent joke. That is, a woman is more inclined to forgive, to relate to many things easier in the end. And a man perceives the same betrayal, say, much more serious and less easygoing.

HOW THOUGHT PUTS PATIENTS ON THE FEET

- You discovered mirror neurons more than 20 years ago - surely since then, apart from scientific research, there have been attempts to use your discovery in medicine?

- Yes, we are working on the practical application of the discovery, including in medicine. It is known that motor mirror neurons make us mentally reproduce the same action that we see - if another person performs it, including on a TV or computer screen. So, for example, it has been noticed: when people watch a boxer's fight, their muscles tense up, and they can even clench their fists. This is a typical neuroeffect, and a new technology for recovery after stroke, Alzheimer's disease and other diseases in which a person forgets to move is based on it. We are currently experimenting in Italy and Germany.

The bottom line is this: if the patient's neurons are not completely "broken", but their work is disrupted, then using a visual impulse - showing the necessary action under certain conditions - you can activate the nerve cells, make them "reflect" the movements and start working again as needed … This method is called "action-observation therapy" (action-observation therapy), in experiments, it gives a significant improvement in the rehabilitation of patients after stroke.

But the most surprising result was found when they tried to use this therapy to recover people after serious injuries, in a car accident - when a person is put in a cast, and then he actually needs to learn to walk again. Usually in such cases a painful gait persists for a long time, the patient limps, etc. If traditionally taught and trained, it takes a lot of time. At the same time, if you show a specially created film with the appropriate movements, then the necessary motor neurons are activated in the brain of the victims, and people begin to walk normally in just a few days. Even for us scientists, it looks like a miracle.

BROKEN MIRRORS

- Professor, what happens if a person's mirror neurons themselves are damaged? What diseases does it happen?

- In fact, it is not so easy to massively damage these neurons, they are distributed throughout the entire cerebral cortex. If a person has a stroke, then only a fraction of these neurons are damaged. For example, it is known that when the left side of the brain is damaged, a person sometimes cannot understand the actions of other people.

The most serious damage to mirror neurons is associated with genetic disorders. This is most often the case with autism. Since in the brain of such patients the mechanism of "reflection" of the actions and emotions of others is broken, autists simply cannot understand what other people are doing. They are unable to empathize because they do not experience similar emotions when they see joy or experiences. All this is unfamiliar to them, it can be frightening, and therefore autistic patients try to hide, avoid communication.

- If it was possible to find out such a cause of the disease, scientists became closer to the discovery of cures?

- We think that it is possible to fully recover autistic children if we do it at a very young age. At the very early stage, you need to show a very strong sensitivity, even sentimentality, with such children: the mother, the specialist must talk a lot with the child, touch him - in order to develop both motor and emotional skills. It is very important to play with the child, but not in competitive games, but in those where success comes only with joint actions: for example, a child pulls a rope - nothing works, a mother pulls - nothing, and if they pull together, then some kind of prize goes … This is how the child understands: you and I together are important, not scary, but useful.

TO THIS TOPIC

Who will understand us from our least brothers?

- Most of us have pets, which for many become real family members. We really want to understand their mood, communicate with them in a more meaningful way. Is this possible thanks to mirror neurons? Do cats and dogs have them?

- As for cats, it is very difficult to find out. They would have to implant electrodes in their heads, and experiments on such animals are prohibited in our country. It's easier with monkeys and dogs: they are more "conscious". If the monkey knows what will get a banana for a certain behavior, then it will do what scientists are interested in. With a dog, this can also be achieved, albeit more difficult. And the cat, as you know, walks by itself and does what it wants, - the professor smiles. - When a dog eats, he does it the way we do. We understand this because we ourselves have the same action. But when a dog barks, our brain is unable to understand what that means. But we have a lot in common with a monkey, and they understand us very well thanks to mirror neurons.

There have also been experiments showing that some songbirds have mirror neurons. They have cells in the motor cortex of the brain that are responsible for certain notes. If a person reproduces these notes, then the corresponding neurons are activated in the bird's brain.

IT'S PERFECT

How to cheer yourself up and others

- Professor, if we subconsciously perceive the emotions of other people, then it turns out that when we watch horror films or tragic reports on TV, we automatically get the same emotions? Let's say we get upset, and the stress hormone cortisol begins to be produced, which disrupts our sleep, memory, thyroid function, etc.?

- Yes, it happens automatically. Even if you try to calm down, control yourself - this can only slightly weaken the reaction, but it will not get rid of it.

- But, on the other hand, you can probably use the same principle of mirror neurons to cheer you up?

- You're right. If you communicate with a positive, cheerful person or watch a movie with such a hero, then the same emotions arise in your brain. And if you yourself want to cheer someone up, then the chances are higher to do so not with a tragically sympathetic expression on your face, but with a benevolent light smile.