Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
neurobiological discoveries from the Italian Rizzolatti in 1996 show
that we have cells or groups of cells that react to the behavior of others
(Iacoboni, 2008). There is still a dispute as to whether we should talk
about mirror cells or mirror systems, but this dispute does not touch
the heart of the discovery. The mirror system actually mirrors an exter-
nally perceived person (Keysers, 2006). All football fans experience the
mirror system when they watch their favorite team playing on TV, and
the offender is close to scoring a goal. He just needs to stretch his leg
and the ball will go into the goal of the opponent. While watching this
moment of the game, the real fan will experience a tendency to stretch
his own leg (it might even actually move) as if he could assist, through
the TV, in scoring the goal. When feeding her child, a mother has a
tendency to open her mouth simultaneously with that of the baby. If
somebody is stuttering, we feel the tendency to complete the sentence
because we are mirroring what the stutterer wants to say. We yawn
when somebody else is yawning, and we feel the pain of somebody else
when she is hurt. Mirrored behavior is processed in the brain as if it is
our own behavior and also feels like our own behavior. For the mirror
system, there is no difference between you and me. Because of this sys-
tem, we can feel the same, experience the same, think the same, behave
the same, and even want the same. Mirroring generates learning activi-
ties in our brain. In this way, it helps us to learn from others by just
observing them: model learning.
The mirror system gives us the possibility to understand each other.
8.2 HOW DOES MIRRORING WORK?
The brain is organized in such a way that we first decide on a certain
behavior (mostly nonconscious), then plan it, prepare it, perform it,
internally perceive the results due to information from our muscles,
externally perceive (eyes, ears) what the physical reaction of the body
is, perceive how the environment reacts, and evaluate whether the
behavior has the intended effect. For didactical reasons, I reduce these
steps to Plan, Do, Perceive, and Evaluate. This reduction resembles
the Deming circle of Plan, Do, Check, and Act, but is slightly differ-
ent. By constantly following this circle, the brain can adjust the behav-
ior in such a way that the intended behavior or the intended effect
takes place. In fact, we have many of these feedback circles simulta-
neously all the time.