The
topic in my
blog entry today
is to discuss
a little more
information about mirror
neurons. I think that
like Skye Ontiveros
mentions on The
Passion Project,” Scientists have
discovered something in the brain
called mirror neurons
that are triggered
when we see
someone doing something
that we have
done before.”(7) We
can also relate
this to how
there are many
ways of learning. In
today’s schools we
have a variety
of people that
learn in different
ways. It might be
due to how
the mirror neurons
transmit information to
the neurotransmitters or the dopamine
amount that is
released when learning. Humans learn
by practice. It is
also easier to
remember things that
we have experienced
in previous times. When
we have a
simple conversation with
a friend we
can relate to
some of the
experiences that he
or she might
be telling us
and instantly remember
the feeling that
we felt when
we were in
a similar situation. Ontiveros also
mentions how feelings are
contagious. When we have a problem
we usually tell
a friend. That friend
usually tries to
make us feel
better by cheering
us up. On some
occasions this might
work. The good
feelings are passed
to us. In the
same manner, bad feelings
are also transmitted
to us. For example
on a Rule
of Three paper
that I did
on class, I talk about
bulling in schools. When
a victim of a bully
sees the bully, she
experiences anxiety and
a feeling similar
to depression. The bully senses
the fear in
the victim and
like dopamine is
released into the
bad student’s blood
system into the
mid brain, the bully
is feeling excitement
about having control
over a situation. The person
in control might
also have this
behavior to please
others or to
mimic other’s behavior. In
an article about
a social experiment
that tests how
people will rather
hurt their fellows
rather than disobey
an authority, Stanley
Milgram mentions the
following; “For many people, obedience is
a deeply ingrained
behavior tendency, indeed a
potent impulse overriding
training in ethics, sympathy, and moral
conduct.” This is
true for in
a bully’s case. I
personally think that
as humans we
tend to mimic
bad conduct to
gain power over a situation. For those of
us that are
able to fight
it off, we
develop sympathy towards
others and we
protect their emotional
well been. In
a conference held
in San Francisco, Ca
with the title Being
Human, neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran mentions
how mirror neurons
are probably involved
in empathy for
pain. He also says
that if we
really and truly
empathize with someone
else’s pain, we need
to experience it
ourselves. That is what
the mirror neurons
are doing, allowing us
to empathize with
another person’s pain. In the
same way, a
teacher can sympathize
with her or his students
by bonding and
relating to their
personal thoughts. The
same goes to
the students. We
can achieve a
disciplinary way of
learning by letting
our mirror neurons
reflect what is
taught by others
in a productive
way.
