Background references for Forum discussion
As part of The Forum on BBC WS this week http://goo.gl/rdwc (@TheForumBBC) I referred to some brain research I did a few years ago, and I thought I would put in some pointers.
The work was conducted with Beatriz Calvo-Merino, Julie Grezes, Patrick Haggard and Richard Passingham at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience in UCL. We collaborated with a choreographer Tom Sapsford.
There is a very clear piece of video and supporting material explaining some of the background on mirror neurons at Nova ScienceNow
And here are two key professional publications describing this work
- Action observation and acquired motor skills: an FMRI study with expert dancers. Calvo-Merino B, Glaser DE, Grezes J, Passingham RE, Haggard P Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) [2005, 15(8):1243-9] (Full text)
- Seeing or doing? Influence of visual and motor familiarity in action observation. Calvo-Merino B, Grèzes J, Glaser DE, Passingham RE, Haggard P Current Biology [2006, 16(19):1905-10] (Abstract)
posted by Daniel Glaser at 6:59 pm
2 Comments:
I heard you last night on the BBC World Service programme "The Forum" and was fascinated by the coincidence of hearing about how mirror neurons enable us to experience within our mind/body, rather than just 'see', the balletic movement of another person - if our own body is familiar with &/or retains a cellular memory of - those movements.
I say 'coincidence', because I have just reached, intuitively, the stage within my own 'experiential research' in which I'm starting to test the theory that we can, by intent and/or invocation, link to someone within our 'morphic' group and 'send them' shared positive emotional energy.
I would value your thoughts on whether our "mirror" neurons also mirror emotions sensed empathically. If so, is it possible to "rewire" someone's brain to feel more positive telepathically/by intent?
By this, I mean 'invoking' a positive emotion in someone (with their permission) in order to reinforce their ability to feel this more often/deeply.
I am currently 'conducting' some experiential 'research' on our 4 Emotional Essences: Joy, Love, Creativity and Peace - where Joy is a combination of the emotional energies (frequencies) Thankfulness & Abundance; Love is a combination of Healing & Wholeness, Creativity resonates with emotions connected with Wisdom & Power, and Peace is a (high energy/low frequency) combination of Faith & Trust.
I'm feeling my way forward blindly/intuitively and would welcome your support as a 'sounding board' and possibly/eventually your advice on how to test/validate my ideas on transmitting this positive "energy" to enable emotional evolution.
I look forward to your response.
Warm regards
Dee (Ramsayer. Ms)
P.S. I have a feeling that all this sounds as weird from your end as it did when I started the 'journey' a year ago. Honestly,at some level it does all make sense!
Daniel,
i did not hear you on the Forum - but wonder whether my way of learning water skiing is of interest: When I was 20, I spent two weeks in the South of France, at the Mediaterrean. For one week, I sat on a rocky breakwater, watching people learning to water ski - watching them fall over on take-off, or shortly after take-off, or successfully setting off on a round. I was not just watching with my eyes, but with my whole being, including my muscles. After one week, I knew (in my bones so to speak) when someone would fall over - and also in which direction they would fall. I also knew that I knew how to water ski. I told my friends that I was going to have a go, went down to the teachers who put the life vest on me - and to everyone's (except mine) surprise, I did a whole round, easily, without falling over.
I have not tried to learn anything like that since, but it might explain why I am fairly good at copying other people's way of moving. In my practice as Alexander Technique Teacher, it sometimes happens that I can observe a pupil's stance and know just how their muscles feel..... enough - it might not interest you at all.
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