The mirror neurons They are one of the most important discoveries in neuroscience in recent years. The Italian neurobiologist Giacomo Rizzolatti and his team made this discovery in 1996, while carrying out a neuronal study related to the manual movement of apes.
These neurons play a decisive role in our social, empathetic, imitative, learning by observation, language development and communication behaviors.
How do mirror neurons work?
Rizzolatti and his collaborators discovered that these neurons activate when a person performs a certain action. What is really special is that they are also activated when the person, without executing said action, observes another similar person carrying it out.
Thus, these neurons resemble a mirror in their behavior. They reflect the action that we observe in another individual in our brain. This makes the same neural connections as if said action were being carried out by us.
This happens, for example, when we see someone talking. Our brain regions in charge of phonation and speech are activated as if we were the ones speaking, this neuronal connectivity occurs.
Furthermore, these neurons not only produce the reflex in the motor plane, but also function in the emotional sphere, since they are linked to the limbic system, responsible for the regulation of emotions. For example, when we see another person smile, our mirror neurons create an internal simulation of their smile in our brain. In turn, they connect with the limbic system and make us end up sharing that happy feeling.
Thus, contagious laughter, the emotion that is transferred from one person to another, reading a book or watching a movie, and yawns that “stick” are other cases of activation of these neurons.
How mirror neurons impact learning
They have a great impact on learning, since, by observing the actions of others, we activate the mirror neurons that can allow us to perform them. It is particularly important in both childhood and adolescence, times when more new connections are created at the brain level.
Their involvement in the learning process, and in the educational universe in general, provides a broader vision and knowledge to facilitate said process.
They represent the neuronal basis for the development of the vicarious learning or social learning, that in which learning is done by imitating, based on observation, the most efficient for a student. Imitation is the basic engine of learning.
Mirror neurons are essential for the development of empathy and the social skills.
We must keep in mind that, as Plato advanced more than 20 centuries ago, “all learning has an emotional basis.” Since we have already seen the relationship of these neurons with emotions, their role in achieving meaningful and truly useful learning is crucial.
The mirror neurons They are also responsible for the development of empathy with the contents and skills during the teaching-learning process. For this reason, it has been shown that teachers capable of giving emotional charge to their teaching tend to activate their students’ mirror neurons more and empathize more with them.
Mirror neurons function much more efficiently in a cooperative learning context in the classroom than in a lecture class. You learn more and better collaboratively than competitively.
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