Study: People Literally Feel Pain of Others


	Study: People Literally Feel Pain of Others

wildcat

6-18-2007 6:32 AM

1069 views

tags:

science, research, synesthesia, mirror neurons, empathy

1 Comment |

Add a Comment

6-18-2007 12:30 PM

mona

another phenomenon that seems to be particularly prevalent among twins is that they feel each other's pain without necessarily being in the same geographical location.
fascinating stuff!
*pop*

Login to Comment. Not a member yet? Sign up

what we know about psychological of "plac...

Slow the Aging Process: Natural ways to pr...

What is Science?

Is Our Solar System a Rarity in Milky Way?...

10 More Crazy Science Facts You Didn't Know

US Town Turned Into An Open-Air Prison

More clips from wildcat

Surge in Food Nanotechnology Worries Consu...

Gordon Moore's Next Act

Transistors in Space

Today's Top Clips

visit the Top Clips page

View the Top Clips from June 18, 2007

Embed This Clip In Your Site...

<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/013b20ff-3017-4e37-bf5f-b103bd03dcb2/47E40C59-9B03-4CE0-B7AD-4EC39A03A9AC/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.livescience.com/health/070617_touching_faces.html" href="http://www.livescience.com/health/070617_touching_faces.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.livescience.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.livescience.com/health/070617_touching_faces.html"><DIV>
A brain anomaly can make the saying "I know how you feel" literally true in hyper-empathetic people who actually sense that they are being touched when they witness others being touched. </DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.livescience.com/health/070617_touching_faces.html"><DIV>
The condition, known as mirror-touch synesthesia, is related to the activity of <A href="http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/050427_mind_readers.html">mirror neurons</A>, cells recently discovered to fire not only when some animals perform some behavior, such as climbing a tree, but also when they watch another animal do the behavior.  For "synesthetes," it's as if their mirror neurons are on overdrive. </DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.livescience.com/health/070617_touching_faces.html"><DIV>
"We often flinch when we see someone knock their arm, and this may be a weaker version of what these synesthetes experience," University College London cognitive neuroscientist Jamie Ward said.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.livescience.com/health/070617_touching_faces.html"><DIV>
Synesthesia is a condition where sensations that normally are experienced separately get blended together. The most common form is color-grapheme synesthesia, where a person <A href="http://www.livescience.com/health/050222_synesthesia.html">experiences colors</A>  upon hearing or reading words. Others can <A href="http://www.livescience.com/health/061122_word_tastes.html">taste words</A>.</DIV></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/47E40C59-9B03-4CE0-B7AD-4EC39A03A9AC/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

Clipmarks: Home; New Clips; Top Clips; Dashboard

Popular Topics: News; Life; Science; Technology; Entertainment

Get Started: Sign Up; Install Clipping Tool; How Clipping Works; Clip-to-Blog™; ClipSearch

Tools and Resources: FAQ; ClipWeek; Top Clippers; Top Tags; Site Map

About Clipmarks: About Us; Contact; Blog; Copyright; Privacy; EULA

Search Options

Related Clips

More clips from wildcat

Today's Top Clips