Proposition: Mirror Neurons

Proposition: Mirror neurons do not function normally in psychopaths.

I think this is a plausible statement. Psychopathy is defined by several traits such as disinhibition, inability to demonstrate empathy, and dominance. This paper will focus on the inability to demonstrate empathy in psychopathic individuals and mirror neuron dysfunction as a possible cause for this. Mirror neurons are neurons which fire not only when an individual completes an action but when the individual observes another completing the action. An example of this would be smiling or yawning when we see another person smile or yawn. This effect appears to be stronger if we are actively engaged with the individual we are mimicking. Mirroring is now believed to have
They filled out the inventory alone in a quiet room. The overall PPI score did not correlate with the level of motor cortex engagement, however individual aspects provided more information. One sub-score, the coldheartedness scale, showed a negative correlation of r=-0.58. There was less engagement during the painful scenario in individuals with higher coldheartedness scores. Important to note, the PPI associates self-reported empathy levels with the coldheartedness aspect, implying that in spite of the apparent sensory aspect, there is likely an empathetic reaction occurring as well. In fact, at the sensorimotor level participants with high coldheartedness scores showed more engagement. This raises the idea that psychopaths are capable of experiencing sensory empathy. Additionally, this study references a 2004 study by Dolan and Fullam which found that psychopaths do not lack the ability to empathize, but rather the concern for others typically associated with an empathetic
However, I also think that my original ideas were inherently flawed, in that I established psychopathy as inherently incapable of any form of empathy, while it seems the truth to that is more nuanced. The general consensus appears to be that psychopaths have the ability to empathize on a cognitive level, but that they lack the ability to necessarily empathize on an emotional level, especially with emotions such as fear and sadness. I would be interested in further research determining if this may be due to amygdala dysfunction, since that area of the brain is related to fear responses. Since psychopaths show lower levels of fear themselves, this may be an inhibiting factor in their ability to empathize with others, since one cannot empathize with emotions they have not