Mirror mirror in the brain

I had an ah ha moment this morning while reading an article about "mirror neurons". For some time scientists have studied these fascinating cells in the brain. Mirror neurons don't seem to descriminate between actually doing something and seeing someone else do it. They were first discovered quite by accident in a lab with monkeys. Scientists were observing the firing of specific neurons related to motor activities. They were recording the firings of neurons related to picking up a peanut but the big moment came when the monkey saw a scientist grasp a peanut and the related motor neuron fired. To put it more simply, think of the yawn. We see someone yawn, a picture of a yawn or in some cases even read the word yawn and what happens..we yawn. There is much interest and research going on about the role of mirror neurons in the development of language, learned social behaviors and many other behaviors as well as research about the absence of these neurons in people with autism. This subject is fascinating to me but it doesn't constitute the entire reason for my ah ha moment.

I was considering the power of stories when helping teachers understand the importance of allowing change in their classrooms. You can tell people that a given thing is important but that knowledge might not resonate. That resonation might well be the mirror neurons firing. What does all of this mean to us in education? Think about your favorite teachers. What did they do? How did they teach? Allowing us to feel through them, to empathize through them might have been the "secret sauce" of their success. Whether watching a sad movie and crying real tears or watching a football game and feeling like a real pro, these cells have much to do with how we think and what we want to do, learn and be. They may be the real biological anticipatory set built into our brains. My thought today is that these mirror neurons mean that stories that are well told will continue to inspire and motivate others to action and that mirror neurons may be part of the reason why.

Nova science episone on mirror neurons

Wikipedia definition of mirror neurons

Blog post that started my ah ha