The brain's mirror system

When you watch someone doing something, your brain analyzes the varying things you would have to do yourself to imitate the action; movements, positions, attentions, etc.

In this study, a woman born without limbs was showed videos of people performing activities, some she can't do, some she can do, etc.  Her mirroring systems in her brain fired up in all cases, be they when it was a task she couldn't perform, or one she could perform in a different manner, etc.

In cases where she viewed actions that were impossible for her to maneuver, the mirroring system and other regions of the brain fired up to support the mirror system.  They're believed to help in a process termed "mentalizing", that is, trying to understand what another person is thinking.

“What’s interesting is that even when she can’t do it, when it’s impossible for her, she still recruits her mirror system, but she additionally recruits these mentalizing regions,” Aziz-Zadeh says.

Offers some very interesting insight into how the brain functions!

Full article: here