Neuroscience
News release from the Society for Neuroscience:
KEY SCIENTIFIC STUDIES ON EMPATHY AND OUR BRAINS SHED LIGHT ON THIS UNIVERSAL FEELING AND ITS EFFECTS ON BEHAVIOR
WASHINGTON, DC, November 13, 2005 — New research is offering fascinating insights into what happens to our brains when we empathize with the feelings of others. Such research supports the concept of “maternal love” and suggests neurological reasons for monogamy. It also promises to lead to a greater understanding of depression and neurological disorders characterized by a deficit of empathy, such as autism and schizophrenia.
“At this time when conflicts among groups of people across the world are increasingly threatening individual safety, it is more important than ever that we understand what drives human social interactions,” says Elizabeth Phelps, PhD, a professor of psychology and neural science at New York University. “The ability to empathize with others promotes greater bonding and less hostility. This collection of studies starts to explain how the brain enables empathy and the individual factors that may moderate this response.”
Read more
And from the New York Times:
Cells That Read Minds
The human brain has multiple mirror neuron systems that specialize in carrying out and understanding not just the actions of others but their intentions, the social meaning of their behavior and their emotions.
"We are exquisitely social creatures," Dr. Rizzolatti said. "Our survival depends on understanding the actions, intentions and emotions of others."
He continued, "Mirror neurons allow us to grasp the minds of others not through conceptual reasoning but through direct simulation. By feeling, not by thinking."
The discovery is shaking up numerous scientific disciplines, shifting the understanding of culture, empathy, philosophy, language, imitation, autism and psychotherapy.
Read more
Dr. Robert Hare maintains an excellent Page for the Study of Psychopaths, a disorder involving empathy.
Controversy about its legal defence and treatment is heavily influenced by this trend in new discoveries.
- Music And Empathy
I've been reading the book Rat Girl, a memoir by musician Kristin Hersh, who started the band Throwing Muses in 1980, at the age of 14 (along with Tanya Donelly, Leslie Langston, and David Narcizo). The book recounts an eventful year in her...
- Mirror Neuron Death March
Above image: Jim Peters almost wins the marathon Vancouver, 7 August 1954, with mirror neurons by Rizzolatti & Craighero (2004). Greg Hickok at Talking Brains has a series of posts dismantling the mirror neuron theory of action understanding. Actually,...
- Neurofeedback In Autism
After complaining bitterly about a bad article in NewScientist.com last week, today I'm happy to post a link to another New Scientist story, which discusses a line of very worthwhile research on "brain training" in autism: Brain training can change...
- The Insula Keeps Getting Its Due From The New York Times!
From today's New York Times A Small Part of the Brain, and Its Profound Effects By SANDRA BLAKESLEE [snip] According to neuroscientists who study it, the insula is a long-neglected brain region that has emerged as crucial to understanding what it...
- Reading Fiction Improves Empathy
Stephen Abram pointed out a fascinating article from the (Toronto) Globe and Mail, citing some research which shows that folks who read fiction have "exceptionally strong" social skills. The Globe and Mail interview Keith Oatley about his research, and...
Neuroscience
Empathy
News release from the Society for Neuroscience:
KEY SCIENTIFIC STUDIES ON EMPATHY AND OUR BRAINS SHED LIGHT ON THIS UNIVERSAL FEELING AND ITS EFFECTS ON BEHAVIOR
WASHINGTON, DC, November 13, 2005 — New research is offering fascinating insights into what happens to our brains when we empathize with the feelings of others. Such research supports the concept of “maternal love” and suggests neurological reasons for monogamy. It also promises to lead to a greater understanding of depression and neurological disorders characterized by a deficit of empathy, such as autism and schizophrenia.
“At this time when conflicts among groups of people across the world are increasingly threatening individual safety, it is more important than ever that we understand what drives human social interactions,” says Elizabeth Phelps, PhD, a professor of psychology and neural science at New York University. “The ability to empathize with others promotes greater bonding and less hostility. This collection of studies starts to explain how the brain enables empathy and the individual factors that may moderate this response.”
Read more
And from the New York Times:
Cells That Read Minds
The human brain has multiple mirror neuron systems that specialize in carrying out and understanding not just the actions of others but their intentions, the social meaning of their behavior and their emotions.
"We are exquisitely social creatures," Dr. Rizzolatti said. "Our survival depends on understanding the actions, intentions and emotions of others."
He continued, "Mirror neurons allow us to grasp the minds of others not through conceptual reasoning but through direct simulation. By feeling, not by thinking."
The discovery is shaking up numerous scientific disciplines, shifting the understanding of culture, empathy, philosophy, language, imitation, autism and psychotherapy.
Read more
Dr. Robert Hare maintains an excellent Page for the Study of Psychopaths, a disorder involving empathy.
Controversy about its legal defence and treatment is heavily influenced by this trend in new discoveries.
- Music And Empathy
I've been reading the book Rat Girl, a memoir by musician Kristin Hersh, who started the band Throwing Muses in 1980, at the age of 14 (along with Tanya Donelly, Leslie Langston, and David Narcizo). The book recounts an eventful year in her...
- Mirror Neuron Death March
Above image: Jim Peters almost wins the marathon Vancouver, 7 August 1954, with mirror neurons by Rizzolatti & Craighero (2004). Greg Hickok at Talking Brains has a series of posts dismantling the mirror neuron theory of action understanding. Actually,...
- Neurofeedback In Autism
After complaining bitterly about a bad article in NewScientist.com last week, today I'm happy to post a link to another New Scientist story, which discusses a line of very worthwhile research on "brain training" in autism: Brain training can change...
- The Insula Keeps Getting Its Due From The New York Times!
From today's New York Times A Small Part of the Brain, and Its Profound Effects By SANDRA BLAKESLEE [snip] According to neuroscientists who study it, the insula is a long-neglected brain region that has emerged as crucial to understanding what it...
- Reading Fiction Improves Empathy
Stephen Abram pointed out a fascinating article from the (Toronto) Globe and Mail, citing some research which shows that folks who read fiction have "exceptionally strong" social skills. The Globe and Mail interview Keith Oatley about his research, and...