Warning - Science Content - Why Some People Are ***** [View All]

[Indenturedebtor]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_neuron

" Empathy
Mirror neurons have been linked to empathy, because certain brain regions (in particular the anterior insula and inferior frontal cortex) are active when a person experiences an emotion (disgust, happiness, pain etc) and when they see another person experience an emotion. <25> <26> <27> 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. More recently, Keysers and colleagues have shown that people that are more empathic according to self-report questionnaires have stronger activations both in the mirror system for hand actions <28> and the mirror system for emotions <29> providing more direct support to the idea that the mirror system is linked to empathy."

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There have been many studies linking the amount and health of your mirror neurons to your ability to empathize. Having a deficiency in mirror neurons is highly correlated with anti-social behaviours.

http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/162/4/648

http://www.cnsspectrums.com/aspx/articledetail.aspx?articleid=170

On a personal level I have often wondered how people could do some of the awful things that they do to one another. Quite simply I think that it's because they just can't see themselves in someone else. For most people when you see another person get hit in the face, you cringe a little. Well this isn't caused by the soul. There's a very specific set of neurons that hardwire for this empathy, and of course development plays a large role. But if you don't have them you don't have them.

Thought that some of you would find this interesting if you'd ever wondered, like I have, why some people are capable of such horrible things.