64. People Are Hard-Wired For Imitation and Empathy

Primary Motor Cortex vs. Premotor Cortex

• ​​​​​​The primary motor cortex sends out signals from your brain to your body to move
• The premotor cortex is the part of the brain that makes the plans to move - this step obviously comes first
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• Caption: http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/i/i_06/i_06_cr/i_06_cr_mou/i_06_cr_mou.html

Mirror Firing Neurons

• Our premotor cortex not only plans our movement but others as well.
• Example: If you have an ice cream cone that is dripping, your premotor cortex plans for you to lick the ice cream before it spills on you. The primary motor cortex than makes you lick the dripping ice cream. If your friend's ice cream were to drip, and you see them licking their ice cream, some of the same neurons in your premotor cortex fire, as if you licked the ice cream yourself.

Conclusion

• Watching someone else do a task can influence you to do it too - if you want to influence someone's behavior, showing them someone else doing the task you want them to do may help.
• Stories can also help trigger mirror neurons.
• Videos are strong helpers in influencing people