In the Hypnosis Technique Exchange today there was a heads up post about recent work on Mirror Neurons and how their discovery helps explain why we do some of the things we do.
The poster reports on a recent Public Broadcasting Service segment about a recent discovery of a set of Neurons related to socialization and learning from others. A very interesting observation they found was that this set of neuron can not tell the difference between seeing the action being done and doing the action.
See the online article at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3204/01.html and be sure to both read the background material as view the video which is quite interesting. I also enjoyed the followup material.
That is an interesting segment. Perhaps it explains why methods like ideokinesis or sense memory work for dancers, athletes, and actors or why a process like the vicarious experiential machine are effective for some folks and the mechanism for how they work (see here for related essays in the Experiential Trance category here at Life of Brian). In my own vicarious experiential machine (aka, vicarious experiential memory machine) process, one enters trance and then powerfully associates to images such as television or film or even a series of photographs and then experiences the actions or feelings of the subject as if one were performing or feeling the actions themselves.
The monkey’s neurons firing when observing as if doing an action tells us the mechanism of seeing or imagining is as real as doing. When the host performed the actions he felt emotional state changes as well.
The followup study on dancers who were proficient in skill sets compared to untrained dancers watching videos of dance moves also tells us that skill levels can affect how the mechnism works . . . so, practice and imagination are important. Those who try to simply imagine themselves proficient aren’t going to be as successful as those who actually do the practice and get the physical skills. Perhaps reminding those of us who do sports or performance hypnosis or trancework to be sure to include actual physical skills practice along with the guided imagery and experiential trance experiences. Of course, those doing recreational, entertainment, and even erotic experiential hypnosis (such as the course I will be teaching on this subject in February) are reminded that imagined experiences are processed neurologically the same as real experiences so it is important to keep sessions clean of inadvertant negative suggestions and the like or suggested imagery that might not be pleasant or helpful in the longterm.
What we can imagine, we can realize and vicarious experience is neurologically similar to lived or real experience.
That autistics tend to have “broken mirror neurons” tells us something about their experience of the world and may lead to treatments – both medical and non-medical – that will help them become more in touch with experience and empathy which allows us to adapt and socially interact as well.
Knowing there is some basis for what we do imaginatively, can help us develop more effective trance processes to help folks . . . for therapy, for sports, for recreation, for entertainment, for education, for a wide variety of context-based applications of the concepts.
Eventually this material will have very practical application, in the meantime, it is food for thought and certainly interresting to know.
For more ideas on how research into mirror neurons may affect teaching and training theory, see the short piece here.
Live Trance and Prosper,
Brian
www.BrianDavidPhillips.com
