Time USA - 06.04.2020

We rarely give our mirror

neurons much thought.

Many of us don’t even

know that we have mirror

neurons. But our brains

are full of them—and

that’s a very good thing.

As their name suggests, it is mirror

neurons that allow us to fathom one

another, to learn from one another,

to live inside one another’s heads. If

I see you laugh, I’m inclined to laugh.

If you smile, I smile. If you cry—

especially if I know you, and certainly

if I love you—I cry too. We cry even

when actors cry—pantomimed tears;

even pretend suffering touches us.

If evolution designed our brains

for empathy, for caring, for the love

of community and the binding of the

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UWR.opener.indd 56 3/24/20 10:40 PM