From The Brain Book
Certain brain cells are activated when you move, and also when you see someone else moving. This means we unconsciously mimic the actions of others and thus share, to some extent, their experience.
These mirror neurons, as they are known, also allow us to know what another person is feeling, without having to think about it.
The discovery of mirror neurons is among the most significant neuroscientific discoveries in recent years.
They mean that when you see someone doing something, in your brain you do it, too – for instance, when you watch a person running, the bit of your brain concerned with planning to move the legs is activated.
And when you see another person expressing an emotion, the areas of your brain associated with feeling that emotion are also activated, making emotions transmittable.
Emotion mirroring is thought to be the basis of empathy. Autistic people often lack empathy and have been found to show less mirror-neuron activity.
Mirror neurons explain why emotion is whipped up in horror film audiences – seeing someone else looking frightened makes you feel scared yourself.
Funny. Change the title to ‘Why do people watch porn’ and it still works pretty well.
Sometimes the audience can anticipate the upcoming scene too much. My mom told me that back when “Psycho” was out in theatres (1960/61), the guy who took her waited until Janet Leigh’s character was climbing the stairs in the house–then he tapped her (my mom) on the shoulder and said “boo.” My mom screamed which caused the entire audience to scream before the scary part when Janet Leigh’s character got to the top of the stairs.
That was the last date my mom and this guy went on for some reason.
Is this why yawning is contagious?