How the brain detects the emotions of others

May 13, 2008 | Source: NewScientist.com news service

Monash University (Australia) researchers have found that people who are good at interpreting facial expressions have more active mirror neuron systems.

To determine that, volunteers were tested on their ability to recognize faces and judge emotions in pictures, and on the “motor potential” in their thumb muscles: how much the thumb was influenced to move just by watching another thumb moving.

Volunteers who were better at judging people’s emotions had higher mirror neuron activity in the thumb task. There was no correlation between recognizing faces and this activity.