Why are there many occasions when, even without anything happening to us, just watching a movie, we can get emotional until we cry? We know it’s not real, what’s the point of reacting like this? what do they exist for mirror neurons?
In this podcast, Enric Corbera talks about emotional intelligence and one of its most relevant aspects: empathy.
In this video, the teacher Curro Aguilar exposes the necessary skills to establish effective emotional communication with the couple, such as assertiveness, empathy and active listening.
If you want to learn more about the la method and how to apply it in your life to increase your emotional well-being, follow us on our social networks: YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.
Mirror neurons: what modifies our emotional state?
With the example of the film we can intuit that our emotional state can be modified by information What do we interpret from the environment? To what extent do we influence the people around us? And also, to what extent does our emotional state depend on the people around us?
In 1996, a team of researchers from the University of Parma, led by the neurologist Giacomo Rizzolatti, carried out a studypublished in Scientific American, on the brain activity of a macaque monkey.
Through some electrodes they verified how the neurons corresponding to the motor cortex were activated when the monkey made movements. It was what they expected.
What do mirror neurons do?
The surprising thing was that, by chance, one of the team members began to eat the dessert that he had brought for after lunch, in full view of the monkey.
The electrodes began to signal increased activity in the premotor cortex.the same one that would be activated if the monkey were moving, however the primate was still.
When the monkey watched someone perform an action, its neural activity reflected the same dynamism as if it were doing it directly.
Neurons that are activated as a reflection of external actions Rizzolatti called them “mirror neurons”.
Mirror neurons: personal simulation
Through the simulation of this interaction in our head we can understand in our own organism the actions of others.
it would be like a personal simulation of another’s experience. This mechanism is basic to develop the ability of empathy.
Rizzolatti and his team spent years arguing their discovery and even longer for it to be accepted by the scientific community. He himself affirms: “It took us several years to believe what we were seeing”.
Mirror neurons and empathy
Currently, there are numerous studies that have echoed this discovery and it can be affirmed that in humans these neurons are found in the area of the brain known as Broca’s Area and in the parietal cortex.
For Rizzolatti An important issue that mirror neurons provide in people is understanding:
“Not only do you understand another person superficially, but you can even understand what they think.” The mirror system does just that, puts you . The basis of our social behavior is what exists the ability to have empathy and imagine what the other is thinking”.
What mirror neurons tell us is that “we are social beings.”
Our emotional state has a decisive influence on the mood of those around us and vice versa.
Bioneuroemotion and mirror neurons
There is an interesting reflection to extract from this finding. Really Our emotional state has a decisive influence on the mood of those around us and vice versa.
Change begins within each one of us.not trying to make who we have in front of us change without offering them a reference model.
“The world is simply a mirror of those of us who make it up and it is neither more nor less than what we all make of it.”
-Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Do you want kindness from someone? Show them what kindness is. Would you like them to speak to you with understanding and respect? Practice understanding and respect with whoever speaks to you.
Begin to be the change you want in the world and become aware of your part of responsibility in the emotional environment that surrounds you.
At Bioneuroemoción we attend to precisely this facet within each one of us, without or blame what happens to us on others, but using the resources we have to make our lives a more pleasant place.
Share in the comments if you found this article interesting and share it with whoever you think might find this information useful. Thanks for your interest!