From the WSJ: How Your Brain Allows you to Walk In Another's Shoes

In subtle patterns of brain cells, researchers are exploring empathy — an essential intuition that helps us understand our fellow human beings.

These unusual brain circuits are mirrors in the mind that reflect the actions and intentions of others as if they were our own, new research has revealed. Scientists call them mirror neurons. They allow us to feel a loved one’s pain, or suffer the pangs of appetite when we hear someone crunch into an apple. They are a reason we are moved by the images of art and can feel the appeal of characters in a book. They supply the voyeuristic thrill of pornography, a German brain-scanning team documented. They also are a hidden persuader in advertising, UCLA researchers said.

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