Full name

Brandon,
Hello everyone. Whitney and I have just decided on the baby's full name.

Austin Jay Smith

Mommy @ 5 months

Wow look at mommy grow.

Whitney at 5 months pregnant.

Are Sympathy Pains Real?

Actually -- yes! Welcome to the wonderful world of mirror neurones.

Mirror neurones are a layer of brain cells which act as a reflection, both of our own actions and moods, and of actions and moods which we observe. If we reach out a hand to pick up an apple, then the neuronal connections involved in the formation of intention and the motor neurons involved in conveying orders to our muscles all fire -- and that pattern of firing is exactly mirrored in the (guess where the name comes from!) mirror neurons. Now comes the interesting bit: if we watch someone else reach out a hand to pick up an apple -- our mirror neurons fire in the pattern reflecting "reach out and pick up apple", precisely as they do if we were the one performing the action. Similarly, if we cry and if we watch someone else cry, the pattern of firing in the mirror neurones is the same. If we laugh or if we watch someone else laugh, the pattern of firing in the mirror neurones is the same. And if we watch someone get kicked in the groin....guess.

We actually think that this is the physical basis for empathy and emotional understanding -- this is the brain structure which allows us to understand what other people are feeling and thinking, by observing them. Support for this actually comes from populations where empathy does not exist: autistics and psychopaths. One of the diagnostic features of psychopathy is the lack of empathy; where a psychopath may be able to identify what emotion someone else is feeling (and there are several studies which show that doing this is actually more difficult for them than for most, and they require more "extreme" facial expressions before they can assign an emotion to an expression) -- they do not relate what other people are undergoing to themselves in any way. One diagnostic feature of autism, on the other hand, is the lack of ability to identify emotions -- either in other people, or in themselves. And both of these populations actually show developmental deficit or lack of activity in the mirror neurones, when scanned with an MRI. (For an example of some research, see http://cogprints.org/2613/ )

The strength of the response of mirror neurones in the average person, however, is moderated by emotional connection. If we are observing someone we actively dislike, the response is significantly weakened; the appropriate neurons fire, but not in as dense a pattern or for particularly long. If we are observing someone we care about, the reverse is true -- the mirror neurones fire more densely and for longer.

In the cases where people report feeling "sympathy pains", there is some evidence that the firing of the mirror neurones is actually having a real effect on the neurotransmitters released in the brain. There is no way that the observer can possibly feel something with the strength or immediacy of the principal individual, but it is entirely possible to provoke something of a "pain" response through such signalling.

For more on mirror neurons, see:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3204/01.html
or
http://www.brainconnection.com/content/181_1

Hello my name is Austin Smith.

Welcome to baby Austin's blog.