Empathy theorists
Empathy theorists have suggested that the brain might be running simulations all the time about the probable meaning of various body postures, facial expressions, etc. that we observe in others whether we realize it or not (Gallese, 2009). These simulations are thought to be run and stored for future reference in case we might encounter the same scenario again when interacting with other people. The learning, interpretation, and storage of these emotional simulations are thought to be accomplished by networks of our brain that are utilizing connectionist algorithms and neural network-like architecture (Grossberg, 2013). The mirror neurons form a bottom-up representation or simulation in the brain of what we are experiencing in another person. The simulation represents what we think another person is experiencing, and this input is then compared with previously stored simulations of emotions that we have encountered before with the same and other people (Gallese, 2009; Otti et al., 2010). This comparison process occurs
MYSTERIES OF HYPNOSIS AND THE SELF 337
automatically and unconsciously in milliseconds so that we do not typically consciously experience it.
This process of matching bottom-up simulations from mirror neurons with previous representations and/or simulations of emotion are thought to be effectively learned and stored in a network of brain regions called the default-mode network (DMN; Buckner, Andrews-Hanna, & Schacter, 2008; Otti et al., 2010). The DMN is thought to be a critical network of the brain that helps embody empathy, although it more generally is thought to be involved with the inward experience of self, mentation, and day-dreaming. The two simulations receive an increasing amount of neurochemical resonance (Grossberg, 2013) between them when the DMN arrives at a good match between what the mirror neurons have encoded and a previously stored simulation of another person’s emotional experi- ence. A conscious experience of the other person’s emotional state may then emerge as a result of this increasing neurochemical resonance between the bottom processing activ- ity of the mirror neurons and the activated top-down simulation activity of the DMN. A critical level of resonance between the target simulation and the stored input is needed to trigger conscious empathic awareness of the other person’s emotional and physical experience, and this appears to be a basic principle of perceptual processes (Grossberg, 2013).
