When I see a badly injured human (IRL, video or just a picture), I'm sometimes getting a sudden and intense response from my body. It feels like my body itself is getting ready to deal with being injured the same or similar way. I'm getting strange (and sometimes very powerful) waves of feelings (not pain though) in those "injured" (or nearby) areas, even though (I subjectively think) I'm well aware that it's not my injury. Do you also experience something like that? What exactly is happening? Why do you think human body responds that way. Is the body/brain just getting confused or is this "feature" well justified from "nature's perspective"?
I think what ye're experiencing is a form of empathy ...which most people have in varying degrees. I often experience, for example, a numbness in my arms or legs in response to seeing or reading about someone who has lost their limbs. In hospitals, I often feel nauseous as a general feeling, even without seeing any of the patients! The sense of smell, perhaps? I don't experience such feelings, however, with seeing someone dead, like in a car accident or on the battlefield. So the empathy is different, not only between people, but dependent on other particulars, too. Baron Max
There is a type of brain cell called mirror neurons that mimic actions by other humans. When you see someone grasping a ball, these mirror neurons act so that you grasp as well. However, usually the activity of these neurons is suppressed so that we don't go around copying people left and right. But, when certain parts of the brain are stimulated magnetically (which decreases the activity in this portion of the brain) the mirror response becomes unstoppable. I recall reading a case story in Oliver Sacks' The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat where Sacks observed some bag lady walking down a busy street. Her face and body was going through the strangest set of contortions. Grimaces. Smiles. Winks. Nods. It was apparently quite grotesque to watch. He observed her for a while and he began to realize that what was actually taking place was that every time she passed somebody on the street, she'd mimic their posture and facial pose. The sidewalks were crowded and she was being overwhelmed with the personality of all these others. As if she were being possessed by the social. After a time, she darted off the street and vomited noisily in a nearby alleyway. I was rather disappointed that Sacks didn't 'requisition' her and take her back for study. This was way before the discovery of mirror neurons (I think.) Now. Is this injury empathy caused by the same type of thing? I don't doubt it a bit. As beings of perception, our simulacra of the world around us is important and is constructed in various parts of the brain (mostly in the right brain, parietal.) But, as social creatures, our simulacra of our social environment is 10 times more important. There is an overriding necessity to understand those about us. In order to do this, we have to construct them from perceptual clues. We build little echoes of them in our brains. We then hold these echoes up to ourselves (or perhaps they are only seperated from 'us' at a late stage of the cognition process). I tend towards this latter view, now that I think about it. The mirror neurons which mimic action are in Broca's area in the frontal lobe (which handles some aspects of speech) and also in the inferior parietal cortex (not sure if it's the angular gyrus or the supramarginal gyrus... something to look into.) The inferior parietal is a multimodal section of the brain which integrates the three senses of hearing, touch, and sight. It's something of a 'holy land' (in more ways than one. If you look at a brain and consider the sylvan fissure as the mediterranean, Broca's area would be Spain, Wernicke's area (hearing, specifically speech sounds) would be North Africa, the visual cortex would be mesopotamia or possibly further east. The angular gyrus would be Israel. The crossroads. Anyway. I'm going into far too much detail, I imagine. It's been awhile since a good brain thread has been around. Sorry. I'm a brain junkie. Anyway. I wonder if the mirror neurons for injury empathy would be in a different location? When I find some time, I'll look into it.
The bit about the woman who mirrored others, I read of how we communicate nonverbally. We sort of 'dance' with the other person, mirroring how they move. The best people persons in the world are all very adept at adopting other people's movements. However, it's a subconscious thing. If you try and do it on purpose, it comes off pretty lame and obnoxious. There was also a study about some election, where everytime on one network, whenever a certain presidential candidate was named, the newscaster frowned, and when the other was mentioned he smiled. I can't remember all the details, but basically those who watched one network were more likely to vote for the candidate that the newscaster smiled when he mentioned his name. Of course, this was a review of archival data, not a lab study. But if I recall correctly, they controlled for content/attitudinal bias.
Ah. And that reminds me of an article I read in Discover magazine long ago. There were two pictures. One was of a pile of overheaping garbage. And another was one of a green caterpillar chowing down on a tomato (the tomato was all opened up and pulpy.) The gist of the article was first for you to take a pencil and to place between your upper lip and your nose and look at the pictures. And then to take the pencil and to put it between your teeth lengthwise. It asked you to describe your emotions while doing this and looking at the pictures. And if they changed while doing the actions with the pencil. The trick is that when you put the pencil between your lip and nose, you're making a 'ugh' face. And when you put it between your teeth, you're smiling. The emotions derived from the pictures change depending upon your own facial posture. Very interesting and has connotations on free will itself. The mind takes cues from the body in many cases. If you grin, it's funny. If you scowl, it's not. The body decides and the brain follows. Somewhat... And this reminds me of my youngest nephew. Every time a song is playing. Or even sometimes when he's watching a television show. He tries to mimic the audio. He's never heard the song. (Or at least he doesn't remember. Not the brightest bulb in the patch.) And he has no clue what dialogue is coming up. But he repeats it as best he can. Following the verbal cues like about... a half second? Maybe a full second. I ought to time it one of these days. Gotta get a watch... Much of it he can't process quickly enough and so he just mutters it. "Muh muh mur mur muh." An integral part to the learning of language by children. This mirror response. Also other tasks. The frontal lobe (which I believe is what damps the mirror neurons...) doesn't develop fully until later in life. Wild stuff. Science is all around us. Especially when you have children to experiment on... Muaha!!! (Can't wait til I have my own and I raise him as a feral child.... KIdding. Maybe.)
That's it.. thanks a lot! For other visitors of this thread: The following is from the wikipedia link provided above by invert_nexus: The function of the mirror system is a subject of much speculation. These neurons may be important for understanding the actions of other people, and for learning new skills by imitation. Some researchers also speculcate that mirror systems may simulate observed actions, and thus contribute to our theory of mind skills, while others relate mirror neurons to language abilities. It has also been proposed that problems with the mirror system may underlie cognitive disorders, in particular autism. Research into all of these possiblities is ongoing.
The body/brain is not getting confused. You are feeling exactly what the suffering person is going thru. If you are in proximity to a person, it might be for a different reason than if you see it on TV. Human beings have energy. Energy can be exchanged with other human beings. It travels thru the air like heat. If a person is injured, their energy changes in a specific way. Any one standing near by will receive that energy and may mimic the injured person. Have you ever noticed how if one person starts crying, many others will start crying? The person crying is emitting energy for crying. The other people receive this energy and they begin to cry too. If you react to photos or TV, that might or might not be different. Energy can also travel thru a TV or movie. Who cares how, the effects are there. When you watch a movie, and the person on the screen cries, people in the audience cry also. There is also the effect of....empathy is the only word that I can think of. It does not really fit. The concept is that you feel exactly what the other person feels. If I watch someone get hurt or hit, I will literally yell outloud sometimes because I can feel exactly what the injured person is feeling. I cannot watch those gross shows on TV about cutting people up. I can feel every saw cut, every needle poke, every prybar prying a bone here and there. You are a special person if you feel like this. Most people will laugh at your description of what takes place. You have to accept that you have an ability that most people do not. And they will hate you or ridicule you for saying you have it.
