Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 19, 2026

A Modified Mirror Test as a Visual Guide for the Self-awareness Trait in Wild Antarctica Penguins, Pygoscelis adeliae
Published on: July 8, 2025
Expanding the mirror: vicarious activity for actions, emotions, and sensations
Christian Keysers1, Valeria Gazzola
1Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, A. Deusinglaad 2, 9713AW Groningen, The Netherlands. c.keysers@nin.knaw.nl
Abstract:
We often empathically share the states of others. The discovery of 'mirror neurons' suggested a neural mechanism for monkeys to share the actions of others. Here we expand this view by showing that mirror neurons for actions not only exist in the premotor cortex or in monkeys and that vicarious activity can also be measured for the emotions and sensations of others. Although we still need to empirically explore the function and development of these vicarious activations, we should stop thinking of vicarious brain activity as a peculiar property of the premotor cortex: instead it seems to be a very common phenomenon which leads social stimuli to recruit a wide range of seemingly private neural systems.
Related Concept Videos
The Sense of Self: Reflected Self-Appraisal and Social Comparison
Empathy
Introspection
Social Foundations of Self II: The Generalized Other
Nonconscious Mimicry
Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model

