Mirrors in the Brain: How our minds share actions and emotions

Emotions and actions are powerfully contagious; when we see someone laugh, cry,
show disgust, or experience pain, in some sense, we share that emotion. When we see
someone in distress, we share that distress. When we see a great actor, musician or
sportsperson perform at the peak of their abilities, it can feel like we are
experiencing just something of what they are experiencing. Yet only recently, with
the discover of mirror neurons, has it become clear just how this powerfulsharing of
experience is realised within the human brain. This book provides, for the first
time, a systematic overview of mirror neurons, written by the man who first
discovered them.In the early 1990's Giacomo Rizzolatti and his co-workers at the
University of Parma discovered that some neurons had a surprising property. They
responded not only when a subject performed a given action, but also when the
subject oberved someone else performing that same action. These results had a deep
impact on cognitive neuroscience, leading the neuroscientist VS Ramachandran to
predict that 'mirror neurons would do for psychology what DNA did for biology'. The
unexpected properties ofthese neurons have not only attracted the attention of
neuroscientists. Many sociologists, anthropologists, and even artists have been
fascinated by mirror neurons. The director and playwright Peter Brook stated that
mirror neurons throw new light on the mysterious link that is created each time
actorstake the stage and face their audience - the sight of a great actor performing
activates in the brain of the observer the very same areas that are active in the
performer - including both their actions and their emotions.Written in a highly
accessible style, that conveys something of the excitement of this groundbreaking
theory, Mirrors in the brain is the definitive account of one the major scientific
discoveries of the past 50 years.