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Could mirror neurons be involved in our ability to mimic facial expressions?
VS Ramachandran is brilliant and besides this talk which I've watched a few times I also read one of his books.
It got me thinking of how fundamental mirror neurons are. When we look at people's faces we can recognize certain ques in their expressions which then make us feel a certain way. A very obvious example is when someone smiles at you and you smile back. Notice how easy it is to just smile back, we don't have to even look in the mirror and fix our faces, and make sure we are smiling. It is automatic. This goes for many other more complicated facial expressions which we can simply observe and mimic without being aware of what our own faces are doing. Furthermore facial expressions are certainly more subtle and complicated than other body expressions which we can't seem to mimic automatically, for instance a proper martial art stance appears to involve some body coordination conscious positioning and even a mirror to practice in front of. I believe this kind of transfer of facial expression from one person to another could be facilitated by mirror neurons. How else could we do it? We don't have a mirror in front of us.
Nadia Gugnyak
Nicholas Lukowiak 50+
An abstract: I investigate the implications for human evolution of the social incentives commonly applied in human societies, especially the incentives generated through the social status mechanism. These incentives reward diverse traits including intelligence, knowledge, norm-following, language ability, singing ability, heroism, and altruism towards one’s group. Furthermore, the incentives have inclusive fitness implications, resulting in an evolutionary force that has favored many traits which are uniquely exaggerated. I term this evolutionary force “prosocial selection.” I highlight the social and psychological bases of prosocial selection, and compare the altruism that results from prosocial selection, termed “social altruism,” to established theories of altruism.
Mirror neurons do not simply mimic what other people are actively doing (they also copy emotional status of another or others), but rather they are trained evolutionarily to anticipate the need for adapting involved in interactions with others!
Our mimetic natures go beyond immediate mimicry of others, it is a constant in how our evolution as a species and as individuals to behave systematically.
It is essential to 'go with the flow' I would say to be able to fit into various groups. There is truth to the idea that a negative person can bring down a whole party! WE don't simply use all of our consciousness, we have a subconscious and an unconscious that also dictates how we should be thinking and what to think. With this in mind, we can better understand how environment can directly alter our perceptions.
Thank you Budimir, I also love Ramachandran - his video is one of my favorites and he gets some of the least amount of time offered on TED.
Budimir Zdravkovic 20+
This is a very interesting article, can you tell me where I can find it? It makes an argument I've made on few occasions while arguing labor and politics with people, however I don't have any empirical support. If this paper presents empirical support I would love to read it.
Nicholas Lukowiak 50+
- Talk soon
Budimir Zdravkovic 20+