It’s a relatively recent discovery, 

dating back to just 1996 when Italian scientists Giacomo Rizzolatti and Vittorio Gallese and their team were observing
monkey’s brains. With brain imaging technology, they observed certain cells in the monkey’s brain activated when a monkey performed an
action and when the monkey watched another monkey perform that same action. And so, the term “mirror neuron” was coined.

The concept has since been studied vigorously in infants to understand how the early mirror neuron system functions. From what we know, parent-
infant interactions heavily influence development. The functional architecture of mother-infant communication, and the development of infant social
expressiveness in the first two months (1). It’s those early years when the foundations for empathy are laid and mirror neurons may also play a part in
the impact that maternal depression can have on a baby. If a baby is exposed to a "sad" face, then the baby will begin to imitate the sad face too, and
since the environmental response to a child’s sad face is similar to that of an adult there can be a corresponding emotional experience .

How do mirror neurons actually work?

Neurons are special cells that transmit neurochemical impulses and commands within our central nervous system as well as to our muscles. We have
approximately 100 billion neurons in our brains and each one makes numerous connections to other neurons or other cells. These neurochemical
impulses allow the neurons to communicate with each other so that we can move and process information.

Neurons allow us to react to our environment. For example, if you place your hand on a hot pan, the sensation on your hand sends a signal via
neurons to the central nervous system signaling excessive heat and pain and then stimulates the muscles in the arm to remove the hand from the hot
pan.

Mirror neurons are located throughout the brain, including in the motor-cortex, which fires in response to motor commands (for example, when you pick
up a toy off the floor or flick hair out of your face). A subset of these neurons, the mirror neurons, are activated when you watch another person perform
the same action. Mirror neurons are fired not only when we perform an act (motWe are social beings. Our survival depends on our understanding the
actions, intentions, and emotions of others. Mirror neurons allow us to understand other people’s mind, not only through conceptual reasoning but
through imitation. Feeling, not thinking.” —G. Rizzolatti.

Mirror neurons and empathy

Without mirror neurons, we’d probably be oblivious to the thoughts, emotions and actions of other people.

For example, if you see someone get a paper cut, you may flinch and feel their pain. The same neurons (although only a subset of them) that respond
to my finger getting a paper cut will also fire if I see someone else getting a paper cut. There are non-mirror pain neurons and there are mirror neuron
pain neurons. So mirror neurons are responsible for empathizing with others’ pain (3). In order to truly empathize with your pain, however, I'll need to
have an emotional response (not just a physical response).

Mirror neurons appear to let us “simulate” not just other people’s actions, but the intentions and emotions behind those actions. Instead of our brains
using logical thought processes to interpret and predict other people’s actions, we understand others not by thinking, but by feeling. Mirror neurons
appear to allow us to make sense of other people’s intentions as well as their actions, as well as interpret facial expressions.