Editing Mirror neuron (section)

=== Empathy ===
Stephanie Preston and [[Frans de Waal]],<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Preston SD, de Waal FB | title = Empathy: Its ultimate and proximate bases | journal = The Behavioral and Brain Sciences | volume = 25 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–72 | date = February 2002 | pmid = 12625087 | doi = 10.1017/s0140525x02000018 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.554.2794 }}</ref> [[Jean Decety]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Decety |first1=J |title=Naturaliser l'empathie |trans-title=Empathy naturalized |language=fr |journal=L' Encéphale |date=2002 |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=9–20 |id={{INIST|13554627}} |oclc=110778688 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Decety J, Jackson PL | title = The functional architecture of human empathy | journal = Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews | volume = 3 | issue = 2 | pages = 71–100 | date = June 2004 | pmid = 15537986 | doi = 10.1177/1534582304267187 | s2cid = 145310279 }}</ref> and [[Vittorio Gallese]]<ref name="pmid21227300">{{cite journal | vauthors = Gallese V, Goldman A | title = Mirror neurons and the simulation theory of mind-reading | journal = Trends in Cognitive Sciences | volume = 2 | issue = 12 | pages = 493–501 | date = December 1998 | pmid = 21227300 | doi = 10.1016/s1364-6613(98)01262-5 | s2cid = 10108122 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |vauthors = Gallese V |year=2001 |title=The "Shared Manifold" hypothesis: from mirror neurons to empathy |url=http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/imp/jcs/2001/00000008/F0030005/1208 |journal=Journal of Consciousness Studies |volume=8 |pages=33–50}}</ref> and [[Christian Keysers]]<ref name="EmpathicBrain" /> have independently argued that the mirror neuron system is involved in [[empathy]]. A large number of experiments using fMRI, [[electroencephalography]] (EEG) and [[magnetoencephalography]] (MEG) have shown that certain brain regions (in particular the anterior [[Insular cortex|insula]], [[anterior cingulate cortex]], and inferior frontal cortex) are active when people experience an emotion (disgust, happiness, pain, etc.) and when they see another person experiencing an emotion.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Botvinick M, Jha AP, Bylsma LM, Fabian SA, Solomon PE, Prkachin KM | title = Viewing facial expressions of pain engages cortical areas involved in the direct experience of pain | journal = NeuroImage | volume = 25 | issue = 1 | pages = 312–319 | date = March 2005 | pmid = 15734365 | doi = 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.11.043 | s2cid = 24988672 }}</ref><ref name="pmid18353686">{{cite journal | vauthors = Cheng Y, Yang CY, Lin CP, Lee PL, Decety J | title = The perception of pain in others suppresses somatosensory oscillations: a magnetoencephalography study | journal = NeuroImage | volume = 40 | issue = 4 | pages = 1833–1840 | date = May 2008 | pmid = 18353686 | doi = 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.01.064 | s2cid = 1827514 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Morrison I, Lloyd D, di Pellegrino G, Roberts N | title = Vicarious responses to pain in anterior cingulate cortex: is empathy a multisensory issue? | journal = Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience | volume = 4 | issue = 2 | pages = 270–278 | date = June 2004 | pmid = 15460933 | doi = 10.3758/CABN.4.2.270 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name="pmid14642287">{{cite journal | vauthors = Wicker B, Keysers C, Plailly J, Royet JP, Gallese V, Rizzolatti G | title = Both of us disgusted in My insula: the common neural basis of seeing and feeling disgust | journal = Neuron | volume = 40 | issue = 3 | pages = 655–64 | date = October 2003 | pmid = 14642287 | doi = 10.1016/s0896-6273(03)00679-2 | s2cid = 766157 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Singer T, Seymour B, O'Doherty J, Kaube H, Dolan RJ, Frith CD | title = Empathy for pain involves the affective but not sensory components of pain | journal = Science | location = New York, N.Y. | volume = 303 | issue = 5661 | pages = 1157–1162 | date = February 2004 | pmid = 14976305 | doi = 10.1126/science.1093535 | bibcode = 2004Sci...303.1157S | hdl = 21.11116/0000-0001-A020-5 | s2cid = 14727944 | hdl-access = free }}</ref><ref name="Jabbi_2007">{{cite journal | vauthors = Jabbi M, Swart M, Keysers C | title = Empathy for positive and negative emotions in the gustatory cortex | journal = NeuroImage | volume = 34 | issue = 4 | pages = 1744–1753 | date = February 2007 | pmid = 17175173 | doi = 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.10.032 | s2cid = 13988152 }}</ref><ref name="pmid17214562">{{cite journal | vauthors = Lamm C, Batson CD, Decety J | title = The neural substrate of human empathy: effects of perspective-taking and cognitive appraisal | journal = Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience | volume = 19 | issue = 1 | pages = 42–58 | date = January 2007 | pmid = 17214562 | doi = 10.1162/jocn.2007.19.1.42 | s2cid = 2828843 }}</ref>
[[David Freedberg]] and [[Vittorio Gallese]] have also put forward the idea that this function of the mirror neuron system is crucial for [[Experimental aesthetics|aesthetic]] experiences.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Freedberg D, Gallese V | title = Motion, emotion and empathy in esthetic experience | journal = Trends in Cognitive Sciences | volume = 11 | issue = 5 | pages = 197–203 | date = May 2007 | pmid = 17347026 | doi = 10.1016/j.tics.2007.02.003 | s2cid = 1996468 }}</ref> Nevertheless, an experiment aimed at investigating the activity of mirror neurons in empathy conducted by Soukayna Bekkali and Peter Enticott at the University of Deakin yielded a different result. After analyzing the report's data, they came up with two conclusions about motor empathy and emotional empathy. First, there is no relationship between motor empathy and the activity of mirror neurons. Second, there is only weak evidence of these neurons' activity in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and no evidence of emotional empathy associated with mirror neurons in key brain regions (inferior parietal lobule: IPL). In other words, there has not been an exact conclusion about the role of mirror neurons in empathy and if they are essential for human empathy.<ref>{{Cite web| vauthors = Jarrett C |date=March 25, 2019|title=There is Only Weak Evidence that Mirror Neurons Underlie Human Empathy- New Review and Meta-Analysis|url=https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/25/there-is-only-weak-evidence-that-mirror-neurons-underlie-human-empathy-new-review-and-meta-analysis/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190325134613/https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/25/there-is-only-weak-evidence-that-mirror-neurons-underlie-human-empathy-new-review-and-meta-analysis/|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 25, 2019|website=Research Digest}}</ref> However, these brain regions are not quite the same as the ones which mirror hand actions, and mirror neurons for emotional states or empathy have not yet been described in monkeys.

In a recent study, done in 2022, sixteen hand actions were given for each assignment. The assignment pictured both an activity word phase and the intended word phase. The hand actions were selected in "trails" each introduced twice. One of the times was with a matching phase and the other time was with a misleading word phase. The action words were depicted in two to three words with each beginning with the word "to". For instance, "to point"  (action) or "to spin" (intention).

Participants were expected to answer whether the correct word phase matched the corresponding action or intention word. The word phase had to be answered within 3000 ms, with a 1000 ms black screen between each image. The black screens purpose was for an adequate amount of time in between responses. Participants pressed on the keyboard "x" or "m" to indicate their responses in a yes/no format.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Thompson EL, Bird G, Catmur C | title = Mirror neuron brain regions contribute to identifying actions, but not intentions | journal = Human Brain Mapping | volume = 43 | issue = 16 | pages = 4901–4913 | date = November 2022 | pmid = 35906896 | doi = 10.1002/hbm.26036 | pmc = 9582378 }}</ref>

Christian Keysers at the [[Social Brain Lab]] and colleagues have shown that people who are more empathic according to self-report questionnaires have stronger activations both in the mirror system for hand actions<ref>{{cite web |author=Gazzola, Aziz-Zadeh and Keysers |title=Current Biology |year=2006 |url=http://www.bcn-nic.nl/txt/people/publications/gazzola2006sound.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630021007/http://www.bcn-nic.nl/txt/people/publications/gazzola2006sound.pdf |archive-date=2007-06-30 }}</ref> and the mirror system for emotions,<ref name="Jabbi_2007" /> providing more direct support for the idea that the mirror system is linked to empathy.
Some researchers observed that the human mirror system does not passively respond to the observation of actions but is influenced by the mindset of the observer.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Molenberghs P, Hayward L, Mattingley JB, Cunnington R | title = Activation patterns during action observation are modulated by context in mirror system areas | journal = NeuroImage | volume = 59 | issue = 1 | pages = 608–615 | date = January 2012 | pmid = 21840404 | doi = 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.07.080 | s2cid = 13951700 }}</ref> Researchers observed the link of the mirror neurons during empathetic engagement in patient care.<ref name="pmid23288854">{{cite journal | vauthors = Hojat M, Louis DZ, Maio V, Gonnella JS | title = Empathy and health care quality | journal = American Journal of Medical Quality| volume = 28 | issue = 1 | pages = 6–7 | date = 2013 | pmid = 23288854 | doi = 10.1177/1062860612464731 | s2cid = 12645544 }}</ref>

Studies in rats have shown that the [[anterior cingulate cortex]] contains mirror neurons for pain, i.e. neurons responding both during the first-hand experience of pain and while witnessing the pain of others,<ref name="pmid30982647" /> and inhibition of this region leads to reduced [[emotional contagion]] in rats<ref name="pmid30982647" /> and mice,<ref name="pmid31600517" /> and reduced aversion towards harming others.<ref name="pmid32142701">{{cite journal | vauthors = Hernandez-Lallement J, Attah AT, Soyman E, Pinhal CM, Gazzola V, Keysers C | title = Harm to Others Acts as a Negative Reinforcer in Rats | journal = Current Biology | volume = 30 | issue = 6 | pages = 949–961.e7 | date = March 2020 | pmid = 32142701 | doi = 10.1016/j.cub.2020.01.017 | s2cid = 212424287 | doi-access = free | bibcode = 2020CBio...30E.949H | hdl = 20.500.11755/ee7ae8ac-7393-4276-84ce-1bad1b8e5e0d | hdl-access = free }}</ref> This provides causal evidence for a link between pain mirror neurons, and [[emotional contagion]] and [[prosocial behavior]], two phenomena associated with empathy, in rodents. That brain activity in the homologous brain region is associated with individual variability in empathy in humans<ref name="pmid20946964" /> suggests that a similar mechanism may be at play across mammals.