Weird brainwave experiment going on at UCLA

I found this link to some brainwave experiments going on at UCLA. I think this is what Dr. Edgar was working on when Brian was working for him.

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/UCLA-Neuroscientists-Pinpoint-New-5903.aspx?RelNum=5903

I'm afraid Dr. Edgar might have used Brian as a test subject.

Weird. I go to UCLA! I had no idea this was going on!

I don't attend UCLA but my brother studied neuropathology for a while, and this isn't a new line of inquiry.

Basically the theory is that people have "mirror neurons" in their brains. You know how if someone is getting really into a story and they make a face, sometimes the people they're telling it to make the same face? That's mirror neurons in action. Basically it's the built-in system in your brain that knows when someone else is doing something, and empathizes with it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_neuron

Some people have theorized that defective mirror neurons are part of what is responsible for autism—that the lack of ability to recognize and mimic another person leads to difficulty communicating with other people.

The experiment described here is pretty normal. It says that they hooked someone up to an MRI machine to monitor brainwave activity, and showed him a video of a hand picking up a cup of tea. When the person watched the video, the parts of his brain involved in holding and grasping things (like cups of tea) lit up, further supporting the idea that mirror neurons exist.

This doesn't seem like anything that would be any cause for concern. What makes you think there's something fishy going on here?

This may seem a little conspiracy theory here, but is there a chance that something like this could be amplified? It sounds like spooky science fiction, but if there was a way to boost this effect somehow, (and yeah, i feel silly saying it) but maybe there's a chance at mind control?

Is it possible in theory? Maybe, I guess. It would require genetically engineering a human with a really weirdly specific brain mutation though.

Mind control sounds cool. I wish I could use it on some of the professors to get better grades

woah cool. very interesting