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31 MAY 2010
NO 1584
The social brain
Curiosity is the brain’s most pervasive human emotion, and prime brain pathways are dedicated to social curiosity. Humans have profound social interests; while we can discuss any topic imaginable, we mostly talk about people. Daniel Goleman suggests that social intelligence is not just a sideshow in the thinking brain. In fact, general intelligence is an offshoot of social intelligence. The brain’s primary design is to negotiate our social world. In many cultures, intelligence is not academic proficiency but interpersonal prowess. Recent research on mirror neurons and spindle neurons shows how much of the brain is designed to meet social challenges.
Elaborate networks of mirror neurons in the human brain insure that every generation of children will imitate the behavior of their caregivers. Mirror neurons enable children to effortlessly acquire one or more languages without formal instruction. (By the teen years, one has to use other brain areas so language learning becomes more tedious). Mirror neurons enable us to acquire elaborate social skills just by observation. When the mirror neurons do not operate correctly — as in autism — children experience a host of developmental impairments,
Rizzolatti, who discovered mirror neurons, explained that this brain ability helps us understand the minds of others, not through logical reasoning but by becoming attuned to their brains. Young children are highly attentive to their caregivers emotions and behavior. Only hours after birth, infants start mirroring adults. Mirror neurons permit them to adjust their turbulent emotions to the mother’s calm state. As they mature, mirror programs enable children in a group to attune to social behavior of one another. Mirror neurons explain why crowd behavior becomes contagious and how we get caught in conflict cycles. And, mirroring can be fun; even adults enjoy group activities where all act in unison, whether in the cheers of a crowd at a sports event or in the singing of a choral group.
Spindle neurons are the switchboard of the social brain. The fastest neural circuits, they track our interpersonal interactions and guide snap social decisions. Whenever we are not distracted by other tasks, we log on to this ”relationship hotline." The spindle neurons are located directly behind the eyes and connect throughout the brain, but particularly to our emotional centers. Spindle cells start developing after birth and are dependent on social experience. Early neglect and trauma can delay development of these neurons.
Children continually scan their social world to determine what others think of them. Adults are also very hyper-alert to being watched. ln one experiment, employees were placed on the honor system to put money for their refreshment breaks in a cash box. This depository for donut money was placed beneath a prominent picture — which alternated weekly between flowers and a pair of watchful eyes. Cash contributed was 2.76 times more when eyes were looking down at the employees. Our brain reacts powerfully to faces and eye contact, even in pictures.
ln traditional cultures, children are under the watchful eye of adult and peer caregivers. From the first year of life, the child is able to detect where the eyes of others are directed. The sense of being watched is a primary behavior control at any age. Parenting language is rich with references like keep an eye on the kids or don’t let them out of your sight. Religious writings also describe the Deity as watching over humans. ln the words of a familiar hymn: "His eye is on the sparrow so l know He’s watching me." But in elder deficient cultures, few eyes are on children and almost none on teens.
LARRY K.BRENDTRO, MARTIN L. MITCHELL AND HERMAN J. McCALL
Brendtro, L.K., Mitchell, M.L. and McCall, H.J.
(2009). Deep Brain Learning: Pathways to potential with challenging
youth. Albion, Michigna. Starr Commonwealth. pp. 46-47.
