From: Mermaid (hidden@lucifer.com)
Date: Sun Feb 22 2004 - 03:35:09 MST
Thanks to limbic, for the link:
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994700
Humans are hardwired to feel others' pain
Humans are hardwired to feel empathy, suggests a new imaging study showing that certain pain-processing regions of the brain light up when a loved-one is hurt.
But no one actually "feels" the physical pain of the ones they love. The UK researchers suggest that empathy is the result of our brain running a virtual simulation that represents only part of the other person's experience.
"That' s probably why empathy doesn't feel like pain in your hand," says Tania Singer, a neuroscientist at the University College London, who led the study. "It feels like when you anticipate your own pain. Your heart races, your emotions are engaged. It's like a smaller copy of the overall experience."
(end snip)
[Mermaid] If empathy is a virian virtue, doesnt this(assuming the 'study' is valid) necessarily mean that emotional attachment to others is required? Does emotionalism really go well with reason and rationality?
I also found the related links an interesting read.
Related Stories
Men inflict greater pain than women
6 February 2004
(http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994652)
Rejection really hurts finds brain study
9 October 2003
(http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994257)
Pain really is 'all in the mind'
23 June 2003
(http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993861)
Of course, all three are ..well..DOH..obvious...
comments?
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