Are Women Neurologically Programmed for Empathy? A Reassessment of Mirror Neurons

By Alexandra-Gabriela Hladiuc

For years, mirror neurons symbolized a neuroscientific sensation. This fascination was sparked by the work of a team at the University of Parma in 1992, who experimented on macaque monkeys – species of high intelligence and resemblance to a human’s emotional and cognitive development. They discovered the concept of ‘’mirror neurons’’ in which, similarly to humans, the monkeys’ neurons would fire when they perceived and took an action. As the research on mankind developed, however, studies suggested that mirror neurons were linked to empathy and social cognition. This finding challenged both neuroscience and cultural bias, as well as behavioral studies influenced the idea that females were more empathetic than men. 

Are gender differences in empathy born in the brain – or have we misunderstood the concept of mirror neurons entirely?  

The answer to this intriguing question seems to have a substantially difficult answer. A study conducted by Daniele Marzoli and other researches considered the influence of gender on an individual’s neurological activity and came to the conclusion that empathy seemingly relies on automatic activation of the motor representation of a perceived action. 

They constructed a scenario in which both male and female individuals had to close their eyes and imagine another person was using scissors. They then had to open their eyes and indicate which hand they thought the scissors was in by holding that hand up themselves. Following this activity, the scientists were able to draw the conclusion that the subject’s answer which reported a higher resemblance to the imagined agent would be more empathetic due to their ability to put themselves in the imaginary agent’s shoes. In this study, females scored higher than males, leading the researches to believe women were the dominant empathetic species. 

Furthermore, other studies claim that both females and males might use, in part, distinct strategies of emotional processing. They are believed to contribute to gender differences in empathy. For instance, when observing a painful simulation of others, the males’ brain activates in a specific area, but this was curiously absent for individuals who were accounted for as behaving improperly. This suggests that reactions are mostly interfered by social-analytical interpretation in males and females.

It is implied that females often perform better in emotional tasks than males. Whether that involves the specific advantage of the ‘’female instinct’’ in the decoding of nonlinguistic cues, or the expression of emotion, women demonstrate a superior performance. This is also the case of the ‘’mirror mechanism’’, the same theory that was once experimented on the macaque monkeys. 

When we see someone in pain or merely showing emotion, our brains often respond as if we’re feeling it, too. Several brain scans prove that certain areas, like the inferior frontal cortex, are active when we express emotions or feelings, but also when we observe them in other entities. This activation is attributed to the mirror neuron system, which supports imitation, emotional and intentional understanding. Females can, hypothetically speaking, engage certain brain areas of the mirror neuron system more intensely when involving their own or others’ emotions. Compared to males, this justifies women’s better emotional and empathetic characteristics. 

Conclusion

Overall, it seems as if women are, scientifically proven, empathetic figures. Although this concept continues to be debated neurologically, and more studies are under development, one thing is certain: women care, and they do so arduously.

References

1. International Association for the Study of Pain. (2021, November 2). Why are my mirror neurons going crazy? Oh right, it’s because I’m female - International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). https://www.iasp-pain.org/publications/relief-news/article/why-are-my-mirror-neurons-going-crazy-oh-right-its-because-im-female/

2. Ehrenfeld, T. (2011, February 27). Reflections on mirror neurons. Association for Psychological Science - APS. https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/reflections-on-mirror-neurons

3. Marzoli, D., Palumbo, R., Di Domenico, A., Penolazzi, B., Garganese, P., & Tommasi, L. (2011). The Relation between Self-Reported Empathy and Motor Identification with Imagined Agents. PLoS ONE, 6(1), e14595. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0014595

4. Martin Schulte-Rüther, Hans J. Markowitsch, N. Jon Shah, Gereon R. Fink, Martina Piefke, Gender differences in brain networks in supporting empathy, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053811908004886