And if researchers in Europe and the U.S. are correct, these cells are subconscious seeds of social behavior that also can be manipulated to boost sales, generate fads or influence political beliefs.
This doesn't surprise me:
Already, Dr. Iacoboni is assessing how mirror neurons react to commercial advertising, effectively turning brain circuits into focus groups. Later this summer, he plans to study how mirror neurons in the brains of independent voters react to campaign speeches by Republican and Democratic candidates.
It will be his second foray into the neurobiology of politics. During the last presidential election, he tried and failed to detect the activity of mirror neurons among loyalists of both parties as they watched political ads.
"Frankly, the campaign was so nasty," he said, "that the empathetic response had completely disappeared."
In our many debates over politics, morality, and religion, I don't think we should compromise our principles, but we would do well to empathize with those we disagree with, at the very least try to understand them as they understand themselves.
I think we'd accomplish more good that way.