their mind

in fact scientists have now discovered

that this can even reveal if the actually like us

or not.

To show this, we talk two men -

Mister Nice, and Mister Nasty.

And placed them in a controlled environment. Then we got several volunteers to meet

them

and discuss different subjects. "Favorite films??" "Yeah, well got plenty of those!"

What the volunteers didn't know

was that while mister nice was being friendly and 'warm',

... Mister Nasty was being as negative and as difficult as possible

"Philadelphia Strong". "Yeah, Yeah"

But crucially, both Mister Nice and Mister Nasty

had been asked to deliberately move their bodies in specific ways

while cameras watched for a response in the volunteers

that would reveal what was going on in their mind.

Gradually, as the conversations developed an extraordinary thing began

to happen

The volunteers with Mister Nice gradually began to copy him

"He kind of used those well, and yet the acting was so good, they could have got away with it".

Meanwhile, those with Mister Nasty didn't copy him at all.

"I'm really enjoying 24 at the moment; have you, seen that...?"

"saw it once.. yeah, didn't like it very much."

"Oh?. I think it's the sort of thing I like going to see by myself."

Because the volunteers liked Mister Nice,

their mind prompted them to mimic him.

.... a subconscious attempt to strengthen the bond between

"I saw Edmond Holmes." "Did you?" "Yeah"

"Did you speak to him?" "No."

Scientists have known for some time

that I mind automatically notices and sometimes

even makes us mimic what other people are doing. What they haven't known

is how our brain does it.

But recently,

researchers made an extraordinary breakthrough. Whatsmore,

they believe this discovery may even be the key to knowing

what someone else is feeling. It's all to do

with something that happens in our brains when we see people move.

And if you want to know what that is, just watch these two

crews race to that bridge.

ATTENTION!

It seems, the secret to understanding what people feel

lies in watching them move.

But to know what's now happening in *your* brain, we have to look

at what's going on theirs.

A particular part of the brain

is controlling each of the physical movements they're making. But in this

area

there's also a small cluster of cells which help

prepare their body for its next movement. Every action,

in this case it's rowing, has its own unique

pattern, and scientists believe that these cells

are the key to how human beings relate to each other.

Because not only at the cells firing in the brains of the rowers,

they are also firing exactly the same way

in the brain of anybody who's watching!

In other words, cells which are helping these guys row now

are firing in your brain and mine, just as if we were growing ourselves.

That's why they're called - MIRROR NEURONS.

Mirror Neurons mean that you and I are not only watching what these men are doing

our mind is actually feeling something of what

they're feeling,

even if we haven't done all the hard work.

Well how does all this

affect our social life? Well if you know what somebody's feeling

the chances are you'll know what they're thinking. Our Mirror neurons

help us read other people's minds.

mind reading is the ability to know - or at least to make an informed guess,

what someone else is thinking.

It's one of the most amazing skills the human mind

possesses. Whatsmore, you do it

with no apparent effort.

Take this woman. In an instant you can guess what she's thinking.

Whatsmore, by also reading the mind of the person next to her,

you can work out why she's feeling this way.

What about a third person watching scene?

He clearly finds it funny that this man fancies someone

who doesn't fancy him.

While they've been reading each others minds, you've been reading theirs.

What was happening in our heads to make it possible

is astonishing

Our mirror neurons fire - helping us to understand what someone else is feeling.

Then, many other parts of the brain are triggered.

- areas which allows to recognize facial expressions

- areas which let us draw on memories, and past experience

- and then the part which puts all this information together...

... and decides what it all means.

many different areas of the brain work together to achieve all this.

And it happens, in an instant!