They are sometimes nicknamed " empathy neurons" or " Gandhi's neurons", they are attributed to the cause of communicative yawning and the perception of non-verbal language, they reinforce theories on role models and imitative learning methods... They are even considered by some to be the " biological " origin of civilization: they are mirror neurons !

 

Because they are regularly seen in the pages of the literature on soft-skills, the editorial staff of the EVE web magazine wanted to know more about these curious nerve cells that a team of researchers from the University of Parma discovered less than a quarter of a century ago.

 

 

 

Something's happening in Zone F5 Cortex Premotor !

In March 1996, Giacommo Rizzolatti, Luciano Faidga, Vittorio Gallese and Leonardo Fogassi published in the journal Cognitive Brain Research a review of their recent work that caused a stir in the Landernau : " Premotor cortex and the recognition of motor actions ". During their observations of the brain activity of great apes, they noted that certain neurons in the F5 area of the premotor cortex of these animals " discharge " when they perform an action but also when they see the same action performed by another.

 

However, the F5 area of the apes' premotor cortex is very close to the " Broca's area" of humans, the area of the brain discovered in 1861 that is associated with language processing, among other relational functions.

 

We can therefore put forward the serious hypothesis, say the four Italian researchers, that humans are also endowed with these particular neurons that come into play in exchanges between individuals.

 

To find out, they observe what happens in the motor cortex of a group of human subjects when they watch other humans draw geometric figures in the air. He also noted an " excitation " of certain neurons as well as muscle reflexes in the subjects subjected to the experiment. When we watch a similar person perform a gesture, our brain seems to be preparing to reproduce the same gesture.

 

 

 

Mirror, my beautiful mirror, help me to unravel so many mysteries

 

" Natural " empathy ?

Researchers speak of a " mirror neuron" because it is as if by looking at the other person, I see myself. It doesn't take much more for us to associate this recently discovered brain activity with the virtue of empathy : eureka, it's proven, it's natural to put ourselves in the shoes of the other ... Shout the most enthusiastic.

 

Perhaps a little hastily, because while mirror neurons react very effectively on simple vital functions (for example, suddenly feeling thirsty when you see someone whistling a thirst-quenching drink), their " discharges " do not send complex signals that allow us to read the emotions, reasoning or interests of others with clarity. It's not enough for someone to cry in front of me for me to feel sad. Also, if I feel sad when I see someone crying, it doesn't mean that I share their sadness : it may also be that I project my own feelings, my own emotions onto the situation.

 

 

The " secret " of contagious yawning?

Others rely on mirror neurons to unravel the mystery of contagious yawning. The saying goes that one good yawner makes seven yawn, and a 1986 study found that 75% of the population is actually prone to reflex yawning when someone stretches their neck in the same room. But why ?

 

For a long time, only theories of behavioral mimicry tried to explain it: in the same way that a whole part of education passes through imitation without even discourse interfering, a certain number of unconscious attitudes and behaviors are transmitted through socialization. The baby noticing that mom and dad bending over his crib in the middle of the night are shamelessly yawning would very early associate the yawning of others with his own sensations (hunger, well-being from receiving care) and with what his parents express, verbally or not (fatigue, weariness).

 

And all of our lives afterwards, when someone yawns, the baby that we have been would instinctively wonder if it is not time to eat, to sleep or if the joke of this endless meeting has not lasted long enough.

 

Mirror neurons provide a more direct explanation than the theories of unconscious mimicry, especially since yawning is one of the movements that systematically trigger their " discharge " during observation by imaging.

 

 

 

Neuroscience as a reconciler of the " hard " sciences and the "social " sciences?

 

The humanities and social sciences in search of " evidence "

In fact, theories of unconscious mimicry do not compete with the discovery of mirror neurons. On the contrary, the latter provide " biological " evidence for many studies on the behaviour of socialised individuals. And it comes at the right time : the " hard " sciences, sometimes also called " exact " sciences, are popular in this era that seeks the truth in numbers, physics, biology and believes in the superior precision of technologies...

 

Even if it means depreciating the disciplines that shed cultural, psychological and sociological light on the phenomena observed by admitting that any scientific practice (soft or hard) has its share of inaccuracies, biases, erroneous hypotheses, and possibly distorted conclusions.

 

The old hatchet between the " hard " and " soft " sciences is not buried, but the former have carried away the collective belief that mathematical modelling, " biological " argumentation or physical demonstration are guarantees of rigour in the approach as well as indisputable answers to the complex questions we ask.

 

 

The craze for " mirror neurons", a reflection of our scientific temptation? 

So, we will rely on statistics to give credibility to a discourse (in good faith or much more " oriented ") on all kinds of subjects, ranging from consumer behavior to the expectations of the new generations at work and inequalities, without necessarily systematically specifying what we count (and what we forget to count) and how we count.

 

Just as we will gladly refer to mirror neurons to give weight to more or less serious conclusions on as many sensitive and diversified themes as sexual orientation and gender differences, crowd phenomena, addictions, obesity, autism, erectile dysfunction etc.

 

This is what the professor of psychiatry at the University of Chicago Jean Decety denounces: mirror neurons in all sauces, it speaks above all of the power of seduction exerted by simple concepts from the most complex disciplines, among which neurobiology is in a good position.

 

 

 

The neurons of values?

 

The return of man who is good by nature, a magical thought?

Nicknamed by Dr. Vilayanur S. Ramachandran the " Gandhi neurons", to which this psychophysicist attributes the " origins of civilization ", mirror neurons are considered by many to be the proof, flattering and reassuring, that all humans (with the notified exception of psychopaths) are accessible to the consideration of others as their alter ego. From this point on, we quickly see in mirror neurons a quasi-" gene " of tolerance, inscribed in the " nature " of the majority of humanity.

 

All hopes are therefore permitted : the good resides in each of us and it would be enough to show the way of generosity to the selfish, the gestures of kindness to the wicked, the ways of benevolence to the disobligors or respectful morals to the rude for the change of behavior to be activated.

 

This is not far from 

magical thinking, according to Gregory Hickok, a professor of cognitive science at the University of California, who questions the conditions of the experiments of Rizzolatti, the discoverer of mirror neurons, as well as the use of mirror neurons in the interpretations of various and varied social dynamics.

 

 

Empathy, a learning process above all

He is not the only one to temper enthusiasm for mirror neurons: neurologist Nicolas Danziger, who conducts work on pain management, highlights that the understanding of the suffering of others, an empathetic impulse if ever there was one, does not depend so much on mirror neurons as on a multitude of parameters ranging from the training of healthcare staff to the reliability of systems for evaluating pain manifestations. including working conditions.

 

Experiments conducted on people who do not feel physical pain themselves but who have an excellent understanding of patients' pain confirm that empathy owes infinitely more to the development of skills than to biology !

 

 

 

The biological essence of virtue ?

There is an even more worrying thing when biological reason is mixed with human skills and values: the risk of essentialism. For example, we know how slippery it is to attribute the origins of attachment to oxytocin, a hormone that women secrete more than men, particularly in maternal functions (childbirth, breastfeeding): it is then tempting to post-rationalize all kinds of gender stereotypes, at the risk of missing the multitude of factors that intervene in the construction and development of a relationship.

 

Another disturbing example is the case of the MAOA-CDH13 genes, which were quickly grouped together under the term " violence gene" after the publication of a series of studies indicating the recurrence of these units of inheritance in the genome of violent criminals. From eugenic comments reminiscent of dark hours of history to political positions on the advisability of preventing delinquency by using genetic testing from childhood, there is reason to be at least suspicious when biology intends to predict favorable dispositions...

 

… Whether it is to the worst behaviors or the most praiseworthy.