Mirror neurons fire both during an action and when we observe others do the same action or emotion.

Human empathy may arise from mirror neurons, letting us emotionally "mirror" those around us.

Mirror neurons exist in other species, from monkeys to songbirds, facilitating learning by imitation.

My youngest son, Alex, who is also a neurointensivist like me, recently lost one of the treasures of his life, his dog Milo (whose middle name was Rafa, after Rafael Nadal). As Milo’s health was fading over his last months, Alex and his wife Reem rescued a puppy. I’m sure it was only partly intentional, but the resemblance of the new puppy to Milo was striking.

Which brings up a fascinating phenomenon in the brain: that of “mirror neurons.” Mirror neurons fire not only when we perform a motor act, but also when we merely observe someone else performing that action. They also fire when we experience an emotion such as love or disgust, and when we observe someone else expressing the same emotion.

The first published description of mirror neurons was in 1992 when a class of cells in the monkey brain discharged both when the animal performed a goal-directed action (grabbing a food morsel) and when the animal observed an experimenter, or another monkey, performing the same action........

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